Approaching Sinterklaas....

There are other things that I have been meaning to post, but a pressing issue has recently come up that I have to share with everyone: Sinterklaas.

It is becoming very busy here in Holland with Sinterklaas approaching. It is a huge tradition here. This weekend, Sinterklaas comes from Spain on a steamboat full of presents, his big book of all the children, and his 100 Zwarte Pieten. Don't worry, I will have pictures to come.

But that is just the beginning. The real holiday is on the 5th of December. Nonetheless, everyone has begun with preparations for this holiday as of the beginning of October. I even saw a Sinterklaas and a Zwartepiet in my school today. This holiday is a big deal! I have gotten two e-mails for lootjestrekken, which is when you put your name in and you get someone else's name out, and for that person you have to buy a present. It is a bit like secret santa. But here there are websites that do all of this lootjestrekken for you! I got one e-mail a few hours ago to put my lootje in, and I guess I was a bit slow responding because everyone was nagging me to put my lootje in! Apparently I was the last person and everyone REALLY wanted to know who they had getrokken (gotten)! I am telling you, this lootjetrekken stuff is intense. And, on the website you can make a list of things that you want, and even search for the price of the things that you want (they must be within the designated price range, and Dutch people are very money-conscious). And once you get your lootje (for who you must buy a present) you can ask them questions about things on their wishlist and the website will e-mail them anonymously. It is absolutely GENIOUS! It makes pulling real names out of a hat seem like back-breaking work! Anyone planning a Secret Santa party this Christmas: go to lootjestrekken.nl and you're good to go. Or you can just search it on google and choose for one of the other hundred websites!

But that's not all. Along with the cadeau (present) or cadeautje (itty-bitty present- things become smaller in Dutch with the tje addition) you have to write a little poem for that person. And the poem is actually supposed to include things that you find irritating about the person, which makes them fun to write, and a bit less fun to read :) Though it's all in good spirit.

Young children can write letters to Sinterklaas and tell him what they wish for, and actually send them in the post. There is an unspoken agreement between all of the postworkers in Holland in which they allow these letters to be sent without a stamp. This way every child has a chance to write to Sinterklaas, and every child always receives a response letter.

And for people wishing to be Sinterklaas themselves, a course is required at special Sinterklaas schools throughout the country. There are always hondreds of Sinterklaas every year, and even more Zwarte Pieten. So if you see a Sinterklaas, you can be sure he is qualified.

It is also traditional to wrap the present in a strange way that makes it hard for the present- opener to open. And if you like to wrap your presents in paper, you can use Sinterklaas paper, which is only valid for use on Sinterklaas presents. No exceptions. I wanted to use it to wrap a friend's birthday present, but instead I had to resort to using wrapping paper that had "spring, flowers" and other related words written on it. For some reason it was okay for me to use the Spring-themed wrapping paper for my friend's November birthday, but not the Sinterklaas paper. The present was wrapped nonetheless!

I am beginning to see Sinterklaas things more and more. It all began with the Speculaas. Those are Sinterklaas cookies that taste a bit like gingerbread. But there is also gevulde speculaas, and those have a sort of almond paste inside. And then there are pepernoten, which taste the same but they are little and bite-size, and you buy them in a huge bag. I have seen them in the air, on the floor, under my shoes after stepping on them accidentally, and even in sandwiches. I had seen people at school throwing them during lunch at each other, and I just thought: gross, they are making such a mess! But it turns out that it is part of the tradition to throw these cookies around! So now I have gained some more respect for the cookie-throwers!

Speculaas:

Gevulde Speculaas:

Pepernoten:

And thats not all. You can even buy Speculaas pasta, which is basically smearable Speculaas spread, and put it on whatever you want. I LOVE this stuff. It can make even cardboard taste like cookies.

Another tradition are the chocolate letters. It is traditional that each person gets the first letter of their name in chocolate form:

So beginning with the arrival of Sinterklaas this weekend and continuing until Sinterklaasavond, each night (or fewer depending on the family) children line up their shoes by the front door and stick a carrot in it. The carrots are for Sinterklaas' horses, which are on the roof during the night of Sinterklaas. According to the story, the horses need to eat the carrots so that they don't fall off of the roof. Children who want to try and make Sinterklaas really happy will put a carrot in their shoe each night. And before going to bed, children are sometimes asked to sing a song for Sinterklaas. During the night, the carrots disappear and are replaced by a cadeutje in each child's shoe if they have been good. And for dinner the next day, the meal includes carrots (hmm...). Though each family has different rules for how often this shoe/carrot/present-giving occurs.

On the morning of Sinterklaas, there is a knock on the front door (with the help of the neighbors), and when the door is opened, there just happens to be a big bag of presents from Sinterklaas laying there! All of the children are trying to be on their best behavior, becuase:

Sinterklaas weet alles!

Sinterklaas knows everything!

Excitement is on end! More updates from Sinterklaas to come.