‘Tis the season…to be confused by the Dutch!

It’s nearing Christmas and I’m starting to learn a bit about the Dutch and what they believe and teach. They have a very different kind of Christmas. In fact, everything’s different and I’m not sure that I’ll be able to explain all of it because I’m not quite finished figuring it all out. But if I wait any longer to tell about it then it’s likely I’ll forget, because that’s what Sarah’s do best. Of course, part of telling about the Dutch is telling about the American version so that I can do a comparison.

In America we have Christmas. The Dutch have it also, but they don’t give out presents on Christmas. On Christmas they just eat together and have a wonderful family time, much like the American Thanksgiving. On December 5th the Dutch have what they call Sinter Klaas, which we would translate as Santa Claus, but in Holland Santa Claus is called the Christmas Man, so Sinter Klaas is NOT Santa Claus. (Confused yet?) Sinter Klaas is basically Saint Nicolas (and even though Santa Claus derives from the story of Saint Nic, he’s still not Sinter Klaas). So, Sinter Klaas always comes to Holland and on December 5th everybody gets presents from Sinter Klaas.

Sinter Klaas (hereafter referred to as S.K.) arrived in Holland today. He came on a big steamboat. The kids are all excited because S.K. is here. S.K. comes from and lives in Spain. He sailed here from Spain. He rides a white horse (haven’t figured out the big significance of that yet). With S.K. come his helpers. This is where it begins to get confusing. S.K. has little black people that are his helpers. They are all named Black Pete. Each Black Pete has a specific job. There is the Black Pete that takes care of the gifts and there is the Black Pete that takes care of sailing directions…and there are a lot of other Black Petes that do a lot of other things. Black Pete (choose whichever you will) seems to be the hero of S.K. (the day, not the person). They also seem to be the comic relief.

I also wonder at the Black Petes’ ability to not be confused by S.K. (the person, not the day). For example, I was watching the kids’ news on TV last night and S.K. was talking to a Black Pete. After discussing his book with all of the names in it with the Black Pete of the book, S.K. called out over his shoulder, “Pete!” The Black Pete that was there looked. Now how on earth did that Black Pete know that it was actually HIM that S.K. was calling for? I don’t know and my brain is having a hard time understanding the concepts of Black Petes’, Sinter Klaases and all that other stuff.

Good grief (yes, Ben, grief can be good!)!