December 5

It's December 5th, a big day here in Holland.  It's the culmination of three weeks of activity revolving around Sinterklaas, the Dutch cousin to Santa Claus. And today is the Dutch equivalent of Christmas.  Abby and Reese set out their little wooden clogs with carrots and milk (and often a letter or picture) every night for three weeks, hoping Sinterklaas and his horse Amerigo would visit them.  Indeed, Sinterklaas came many of the nights, leaving everything from chocolate coins to stickers to puzzles to new pairs of ice skates.

The Sinterklaas celebration has encountered its fair share of controversy, specifically the character of Sinterkaas's helpers, the Zwarte Piets.  I already wrote about this topic in length last year, so I won't linger here for long.  In fact, there are two very salient and straightforward aspects of this tradition for me.  

image: Studio Sjoesjoe

First, the Sinterklaas experience is sweet, and it is less consumer oriented than Christmas in the US.  Gifts are certainly exchanged but, believe it or not, most family members and friends write poems for each other in lieu of gifts.  It's sweet, personal, and doesn't involve a Black Friday.

The Sinterklaas period kicks off with a huge parade when Sinterklaas, himself, arrives by boat (supposedly from Spain), traversing the city canals.  This year, it POURED, but we braved the weather with good friends (on our bikes!) and followed Sinterklaas up the Amstel River.

Abby and Reese are still talking about this moment of watching Sinterklaas's boat pass by, with the music and the horn and the screaming.  Very exciting.

Here's Abby's version of the parade boat that she made at school.  Can I actually hold onto to this thing until Abby is 30 years old?  Because I love it so much and want her to have it?

And I love this photo a member of Amsterdam Mamas (Marie Reveglia) captured with the caption "Sint has as much trouble parking as the rest of us."

 Finishing his green beans:

As emphatic as I feel that this holiday is sweet and down-to-earth, I also emphatically feel that the Black Pete, in its current depiction, must go.  The controversy has gained world-wide attention, and I can't help but agree with this recent headline in the Washington Post:  The Dutch Blackface Holiday Tradition Has No Place in the 21st Century.  Here are a few highlights from this piece:

"Zwarte Piet simply cannot be divorced from the historical participation of the Netherlands in the trafficking of black labor across the Atlantic."

"Zwarte Piet cannot be considered in a vacuum outside of this particular history, nor should the tradition be divorced from the context of inequalities that exist in former Dutch colonies or contemporary racism and xenophobia that persist in the Netherlands against people of color."

And here's a short clip from two filmmakers who wanted to see what people outside of Holland thought about the tradition, with comedian Russell Brand calling it a colonial hangover:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/black-pete-documentary-shows-how-londoners-including-russell-brand-respond-to-racist-christmas-tradition-9904693.html

Anyway, enough said.  We've put away the wooden clogs and the pointy bishop hats.  It's time for Hanukkah and Christmas and Santa Claus and Rudolf and Frosty.  But, first, it looks like the tooth fairy is stopping by again tonight.  There's quite a traffic jam of magical beings in our household at the moment.