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Season conjures memories of home
The Advocate
When I was 16, I moved out of my parents house, but not because I didn’t want to live there anymore or because there was some issue with my parents. I moved out to start my year abroad.
I lived in the Netherlands for 16 years and wanted to live in America.
When I made the decision to go to high school in the United States, I never expected to stay here and start my family, but I did.
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I am usually too busy to realize what I am missing, but because Wednesday was a day off I checked my e-mail and my Hyves, the Dutch equivalent of Facebook.
My friend sent me a message informing me that Sinterklaas will be arriving this Saturday and I remembered the great traditions that come with this.
Sinterklaas is a European tradition. Most countries celebrate this on Dec. 5 or 6 but in the Netherlands it is a four-week long tradition of chocolate and pepernoten (little gingerbread cookies).
Sinterklaas is a traditional figure and the holiday that bears his name celebrates Saint Nicholas, patron saint of, among other things, children. Sinterklaas has a long, red cape, wears a white bishop’s dress and red mitre (bishop’s hat) and holds a long, gold-colored staff. He carries a big book that tells him whether a child has been naughty or nice. Sinterklaas is also the basis for the figure of Santa Claus. In earlier times, Sinterklaas was an occasion to help the poor by putting money in their shoes. This evolved into putting present in children’s shoes over time.
In the Netherlands Sinterklaasavond (Saint Nicholas’ Eve) is the chief occasion for gift-giving as opposed to Christmas in the United States
Sinterklaas’ helping hand, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), originated in the bishop’s past. The legend says that Sinterklaas saved three Moorish boys who were sentenced to death and to show their gratitude the boys stayed with him and jump around on rooftops to deliver presents.
When I was younger I used to go to the waterfront where Sinterklaas would arrive from Spain and waited until he arrived. Zwarte Pieten would then come out and give candy to all the children.
At night we would put our shoes by the backdoor, because we didn’t have a fireplace, and would sing Sinterklaas songs and put out a glass of water for Sinterklaas and a carrot for his horse, Amerigo.
We would then go to bed and the next morning we would find chocolate or gingerbread and sometimes small presents in our shoes if we had been good. On the rare occasion that we had not been good, we would find salt in our shoe to remind us that Sinterklaas always knows if you’re good or bad and that it’s important to be good, because on Dec. 5 he would deliver lots of presents.
On Dec. 5, Zwarte Piet would knock on our door and leave a big bag of presents on the doorstep, but he would have so many homes to deliver to that he ran away in the night before anyone could see him.
As I grew older I started to realize that maybe Sinterklaas got some help from my parents and that it was very hard for people to be at two places at once, which led me to believe that perhaps there were some imposters.
In my teenage years I dressed up as Zwarte Piet on several occasions and handed out candy and presents to children at my parents’ work and at school in the town I lived in.
So if you’d ask me if I miss my country, I have to say that I don’t usually miss it.
What I do miss are the special events like Sinterklaas, but also weddings and birthdays of friends and family members.
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