Sinterklaas, the Santa of Dutch children

Almost a year ago I promised to come back with details over the favourite holiday of the Dutch: Sinterklaas.

Sinterklaas is a Santa and is being celebrated on December 5th. The Romanian readers would say that’s nothing special, we also have Saint Nicholas!

And they would be right, but only partially! The name Sinterklaas is an abreviation of Sint Nikolaas, so yes, we are talking about the same Saint Nicholas.

(Furthermore, the name of Santa Claus originates from the name Sinterklaas!)

What is unheard of is that Sint (this is his nickname) comes to Holland far before his birthday (December 5^th), this being also the reason why he comes: to celebrate it. Sint arrives the first Saturday after St. Maarten, which is celebrated on November 11th (also the date that the Carnival period begins). To stray off even more and keep you hanging, you should know that  St. Maarten is a kind of Halloween, as children walk from house to house hoping to get sweets (they also carry lampions).

This year, Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands on Saturday, November 17th. Maybe you are wondering where he comes from and how he does it. If not, you should, because this is also quite special. Sint comes by ship from Spain! And he doesn’t come alone, he won’t be the one steering the ship, he has help, a reason for many racial controversies: Zwarte Pieten (meaning Black Petes). Who are white people wearing make up so that they appear to be black. Which, considering Holland’s past, when it was active in trading slaves, is not the best of ideas. It is said that they shouldn’t be seen as black slaves, they are black because of the soot, as Sint and his Petes bring presents down the chimney (as all santas do).

A decorative Pete in a showcase:

The holiday period around Sinterklaas begins about mid November and lasts until December 5th. On the Saturday when the ship arrives from Spain one Dutch town is the  host of the arrival of the original Sint, being also broadcasted live on TV. In many other towns similar arrivals take place, so that as many children as possible witness this event. Little do the children know that the Sint cannot be in so many places. The kids like to dress up as Zwarte Pieten in bright colours and wait impatiently for the Sint to come off his ship and get on his white horse called Amerigo.

The black Petes throw around the traditional sweets for this period, pepernoten and generally fool around. There are different kinds of Petes: Luisterpieten (who listen the whole year through and note how children behave), Inpakpieten (who wrap the presents), Wegwijspieten (navigators, who find the way)…

Sint is welcomed by children singing traditional Sinterklaas songs and there are shows in his honour.

Waiting for Sinterklaas:

A real Piet:

The best part for the children comes now:  from the day that Sint arrives in Holland and until December 5th, the children can place their shoes every evening near a fire place / stove / radiator, which goes hand in hand with singing some songs for the Sint before going to bed. And if Sint or one of the Pieten were listening, the children will find a small present in the shoes the next morning. Well, how about that? Children who every dayfor about 3 weeks expect to find a present… it sure is a lot of fun being a kid this way!

The children also leave a present for Amerigo, a carrot or hay. You tell me how… Sint can resist leaving a gift in the shoe when finding such a thoughtful one in return.

On  December 5th, Sint’s official birthday, the gifts become bigger, many families give up making also Christmas gifts a few weeks later. Especially since there is no Santa Claus for the Dutch children, there is only one santa: Sinterklaas! Who, poor Sinterklaas, celebrates his birthday riding on Amerigo on the roofs to bring gifts for all the children. For the adults, the evening of December 5th is also special, many families prepare “surprises”. Usually, the members of a family who will celebrate together draw lots sometime before the event in order to decide for whom they will make the surprise. The basic idea is creativity. Everyone prepares something, either a funny poem about the person who it is for or a present wrapped in such a way that it is difficult to unwrap or a funny self-made present…

There is also the idea of a birch for bad children, but, unlike in Romania, no Dutch child has ever seen one, it is only a “threat”. Another threat is that bad children will be taken in a bag back to Spain. In Romania there is a similar threat, unrelated to this holiday, that bad children will be taken away in a bag, by a gipsy.

I read on the internet that about 65% of the Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas, the holiday being called also “Pakjesavond” (the evening of the presents). In the current form, the holiday is know since 1850, but it exists already for about 700 years.

A decorative Piet:

What do you think about the Dutch Sint?

 

One year of blogging

Precisely a year ago I published the first post on the blog.

In the meantime the blog has been visited almost 6.000 times and I am now writing post number 100.

But what is more interesting is to see how people came across my blog. Because WordPress is so cool and shows me what people are looking for on the internet (like on google) so that they get as answer, among others, a post on my blog.

I never would have thought, especially because I hadn’t heard of them before I came to live in the Netherlands, but the most frequent search term was “ice saints”. I was equally amazed by “stories about birds”, what can make so many people look for this?

Other frequent searches, but in line with the blog’s content were: “dutch music”, “holidays the netherlands”, “traditions holland”, “floriade olanda 2012”, “keukenhof”.

There were also a few funny search terms, like: “what language do dutch people drink” 🙂

Maybe the same person  also looked for “dutch people drink a lot of beer”, “dutch drink love coffee”, “dutch men and drinking” and “dutch people like coffee or tea more?”.

Another funny one was (I translate it from Romanian): “how can I visit keukenhof if it is not open”. Hmmmmm…..

Another search was for “very small toilets” – stop searching, they are here, in the Netherlands! 🙂

Dilemmas about the Dutch language: “how to pronounce v in dutch?” – that’s very easy: “v”.

Somebody else noted: “dutch language sounds weird”.

Although I write about the Netherlands, people found my blog by looking for “sweets from spain”. But also by looking for “romanian women use too much make up”.

Also, many people seem to be interested in “what do dutch like”, I guess because they want to give them a present.

A person couldn’t choose the language to write in: “how to tricoteaza a bag”. (“tricoteaza” means “knit”)

Other more vague searches were: “can one live in the netherlands” and “to visit the netherlands”, but also “how to write i’m sorry, i didn’t get to”. 🙂

Another thing I can see is the country of the readers. Well, I say the most exotic one was (were?) Trinidad and Tobago 🙂

I don’t want to be mean by exposing here these search terms, I’m happy that people found the blog and maybe they stick around to read some more.

I think it was a good blogging year, I had fun for sure. 🙂

 

Toamna in Olanda / Fall in the Netherlands

O mare pasiune a olandezilor este padurea. Multi olandezi fac plimbari pe jos, pe bicicleta sau calare sau alearga prin padure.

Toamna aud multi olandezi spunand ca vor sa mearga in padure, mai ales pentru a cauta si admira ciuperci.

Asa ca am mers si noi sa vedem ce are sa ne ofere padurea Mastbos (in Breda), vedeti si voi pozele.

Nu am mai vazut niciodata atatea ciuperci diferite si intr-un timp asa de scurt.

Clar, toamna e tare frumoasa in Olanda!

*******************************************************************************************************

A big passion of the Dutch is the forest. Many Dutch take walks, ride bikes or horses or run through the forest.

During fall I hear lots of Dutch people saying that they will visit a forest, especially for searching and admiring mushrooms.

So we went as well to check out what the forest Mastbos (in Breda) has to offer, see the pictures.

I have never seen so many different mushrooms and in sucha short time.

It’s obvious: fall is very pretty in the Netherlands!

Ochii imi vad ochi 🙂

Eye see eyes 🙂

Acestea semana cu rosiile cherry.

These look like cherry tomatoes.

Una din preferatele mele:

One of my favourites:

Ciuperci violete!
Purple mushrooms!

.

 

O ciuperca laterala:
A sidewards mushroom:

 

Vedeti inima roz?

See the pink heart?

O alta fotografie favorita (facuta de prietenul meu):

Also a favourite one (taken by my boyfriend):

Nu am fost singura romanca in padure.

I was not the only Romanian in the woods.

 

Eva Simons (bilingual post)

Va suna cunoscut numele? Daca va zic ca e cantareata cu o creasta tare originala si va mai copiez aici si videoclipul ei (impreuna cu will.i.am), o recunoasteti?

Does the name sound familiar? If I tell you that she is the singer with a very original mohawk and I copy here for you her video (together with will.i.am), do you recognize her?

Ce nu stiati, poate, este ca este olandeza si, dupa ce am vazut un interviu cu ea, va mai spun si ca este teribil de simpatica. Si ca isi tapeaza si fixeaza singura creasta, ceea ce mi se pare destul de impresionant.

What you might not know is that she is Dutch and, after seeing an interview with her, I can tell you that she is also extremely likeable. And that she styles the mohawk herself, which I find very impressive.

Poate cunoasteti si aceasta melodie a ei, in colaborare cu DJ-ul Afrojack?

 Maybe you also know this song of hers, together with the DJ Afrojack?

Ca sa va bag in ceata total, stiati ca Afrojack este si el olandez? Daca nu, nicio problema, de altfel, cand s-a cunoscut Eva cu Afrojack, si-au vorbit in engleza, pentru ca nu stiau unul de altul ca sunt olandezi 🙂

To confuse you even more, did you know that Afrojack is Dutch as well? If you didn’t, no problem, in fact, when Eva and Afrojack met, they spoke English because they didn’t know that the other was Dutch 🙂

 

The Netherlands at Eurovision 2013

One of the week’s majour news is related to Holland’s participation at the Eurovision Song Festival in 2013.

After several discussions, the Dutch singer Anouk (whom you must know already) has decided to represent the Netherlands in Sweden next year.

Very unusual, as she will not only use her own song, but there also will not be a preselection, as in the previous years. These were Anouk’s terms and it seems like the Netherlands want to have real chances, so that the conditions were met. At the end of February we will hear which song will be sung by Anouk in Malmö, she claims it is a “killer song”.

In the last 8 years the Netherlands have not succeeded to reach the final of the festival.

I am an Anouk fan so I expect great success from her. I don’t know how much is being heard from het in other countries besides the Netherlands, but here she is active and tickets to her concerts are sold in no time.

Here are a few of her famous songs, you can find more on the internet:

I can’t wait for the Eurovision to start, what do you think, does she stand a chance? If you will like her song, will you vote for the Netherlands?

 

Zundert & Bloemencorso

2. In satul olandez Zundert are loc in fiecare an in prima duminica din septembrie Bloemencorso.

Pe campurile din afara satului se cultiva multe dalii, care pe la sfarsitul lui august le coloreaza intr-o multime de culori. Daliile sunt folosite pentru acest corso, o pasiune a locuitorilor, pentru a construi care alegorice incredibile, cu care defileaza pe strazi (ca. 5 km), iar apoi are loc premierea.

Pregatirile dureaza luni intregi, iar in ultima faza se aplica sutele de mii de dalii.

Evenimentul se organizeaza inca din 1936, atrage in jur de 70.000 de spectatori si este al doilea ca marime din lume.

************************************************************************************************

2. The Bloemencorso takes place in the Dutch village Zundert every first Sunday in September.

On the fields outside the village many dahlias are cultivated and in the end of August they fill the fields with their colours. Dahlias are used for this corso, a passion of the inhabitants of Zundert, for building unbelievable floats, which are then shown around the village (the parade is about 5 km long), after which a winner is chosen.

The preparations last for many months, and in the last days the hundreds of thousands of dahlias are applied.

The event started already in 1936, it attracts now about 70.000 viewers and is the second biggest in the world.

 

 

 

Zundert and Vincent van Gogh

You wouldn’t say, especially since I bet most people haven’t heard of it,  but the Dutch village Zundert in the province Noord Brabant is a real treasure.

I will elaborate in the next 3 posts why that is.

1. Vincent van Gogh was born and has spent his childhood in Zundert, which is why there is the “Van Gogh House” museum in Zundert: http://www.vangoghhuis.com/ .

The museum is not full of his paintings, in fact you will not see any of them, and it also is not housed in the former parsonage inhabited by the van Gogh family, because it was demolished a long time ago.

The van Gogh House offers instead in an interesting way informations about the painter and his life with the aid of an audio guide recorded from Vincent’s perspective, together with projected images and several displays. The museum hosts also exhibitions of art inspired by van Gogh.

Signs of the relation to van Gogh are visible throughout Zundert:

This plate states:
“Parental house of Vincent van Gogh

Vincent was born in this place on March 30th 1853. The original house dating back to the 16th century, which was demolished in 1903, as well as the house rebuilt on the same spot in 1904 have served until 1970 exclusively as parsonage. In 1953 a commemorative plaque was unveiled to celebrate Vincent van Gogh’s 100th birthday. It was created by the sculptor Niel Steenbergen.”

A plate about van Gogh’s “aunts”:

A sculpture of Vincent and his brother Theo:

My favourite, in terms of humor, is this stand (across the street from the van Gogh house) where you can buy French fries and which is decorated with van Gogh’s painting “The Potato Eaters”:

Zundert and Auvers sur Oise, the French town nearby Paris where Vincent van Gogh is buried, are twin towns.

People who know this will smile for sure when they will see below sign in Zundert.

Conclusion: if you are a van Gogh fan, put Zundert on your “to do” list.