Happy Sinterklaas Day!

Like they say: If it's nice, do it twice!" The Dutch  celebrate Christmas twice! My understanding of the story goes a like this... Sinterklaas (Saint Nicolas) was a Bishop in Turkey were he saved the town from starvation and gave money to poor children. Somehow (not even the Dutch know), Sinterklaas now lives in Spain. Legend has it, every year on December 5th (before Saint Nicola's Feast Day on December 6th) Sinterklass travels from Madrid on a boat. (This is probably because the Holland was famous navigation in the 17th Century.) All the little children place their shoes in front of the fireplace filled with hay and carrots for Sinterklaas and his horse.  'Zwarte Pieten' ("Black Petes") are Sinterklaas's helpers. They are tall elves (no one is short in the Netherlands:) with black faces, red lips, and Afro hair. This is super controversial!! The Dutch dress up their children as Zwarte Pieten and paint their faces black with red lips. The Dutch explain that the elves are black from the ashes after going down the chimney. However, outsiders are often offended and connect Zwarte Pieten with the Dutch history of slavery. The story continues that the good children will receive gifts and the bad children will taken to Spain in Zwarte Pieten's bag. 

Besides the questionable racism, Sinerklaas Day is so special and a bit different. Sinterklaas is tall, thin, and wears a tall bishop's hat. For the day celebration, the families get together and recite poems they wrote about each other. They also exchange chocolate letters based on the first letter of your first name. Today I got a chocolate "A!" In the evening, Sinterklaas leaves a bag of presents for the kids and does not distinguish individual gifts. Dutch children favor Sinterklaas Day above Christmas and Santa Clause.However, with globalization this may change!