Sinterklaas kapoentje...

Sinterklaas and his helpers: Black Pete's were at school on Saturday, December 5th is
his birthday and the tradition goes then that he gives all the children a gift. So the girls were so excited to go to school on a Saturday :-)

They first had culture day in the morning for the Dutch school, so these children are only Dutch or Belgian. They made a drawing for Sinterklaas and practiced the songs again.

We were waiting and waiting, the kids in great anticipation of his arrival... how would he arrive this year?? Last year he came with horse and carriage, the year before in a fire truck and this year... in a car, since Americo his horse got his ankle strained... so the story goes :)

Here Jasmine and Juliet anxious waiting for Sinterklaas to arrive, with the drawing in their hands that they made for him.



The little ones even made a hat like black Pete, so cute :-)



Finally... there they come! A big roar of applause and singing Sinterklaas songs so he can hear from far away.



The kids are all excited when he steps out of the car!



First a welcome word and a small speech of Sinterklaas to all of the kids before the gift giving starts.



It goes by age, so the little ones get their gifts first, most of them so afraid that the mother had to come with them. Since the girls are 7 they have to wait a long time before they get their gift...



But then finally it is the turn of the 7 year olds and Black Pete is grabbing in his sack and there it is Jezz's turn...



She has to come and sit on Sinterklaas' lap and he hands her over her gift... what is in there??



Then it is JJ's turn, both get a 'scary book'. They had made a wish list and this was one of their wishes. So the girls are happy! Both the girls got a book by Enid Blyton with great adventure stories. A fabulous English writer!



So the week of putting their shoe in front of the chimney on a daily basis, getting small gifts and specific sweets for this occasion has finished. Sinterklaas is going back to Spain till next year. He chose a warmer location for his permanent residence than Santa Claus ;-) You can read about last years event here. See how the girls have grown in just 1 year!

And we can start concentrating on Xmas! Decorating the house a bit, not too much since we are in Holland for the Xmas break. My dad is turning 70 on Xmas day and we have decided to go to Holland and celebrate with both families! A first in 11 years!

Have a great Sunday!
Mireille

Sinterklaas is in town...

It's that time of the year again for Dutch children! Sinterklaas is coming to town. He arrived in Holland a few weeks ago on his steamboat and on Saturday he will arrive at the Dutch school here in Joburg!! The girls are so excited and putting their shoe with carrots and water in front of the fireplace and hoping for some treats the next morning!



Traditionally, in the weeks between the arrival of Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet and December 5, before going to bed, children put their shoes next to the fireplace chimney of the coal fired stove or fireplace, or, in modern times, next to the central heating. The shoe is to have a carrot or some hay in it and a bowl of water "for Sinterklaas' horse," and the children sing a Sinterklaas song; the next day they will find some candy or a small present in their shoes. When a house has no chimney, Sinterklaas or Black Pete is said to enter using his special key that fits on every door in the Netherlands.

Typical Sinterklaas candy traditionally includes: mandarin oranges, pepernoten, letter-shaped pastry filled with almond paste or chocolate letter (the first letter of the child's name made out of chocolate), speculaas (sometimes filled with almond paste), chocolate coins and marzipan figures. Newer candy includes kruidnoten (a type of shortcrust biscuit or gingerbread-biscuits) and a figurine of Sinterklaas made out of chocolate and wrapped in painted aluminum foil.

Children are told that Black Pete enters the house through the chimney, which also explains his black face and hands, and will leave a bundle of sticks ("roe") or a small bag of salt in the shoe instead of candy if the child has been bad. If they have been really bad, Black Pete may take them back to Spain in his sack, a tradition now frowned upon under the influence of modern child psychology.

Traditionally Saint Nicholas brings his gifts at night, and many Belgian and Dutch children still find their presents on the morning of December 6. Later in The Netherlands adults started to give each other presents on the evening of the 5th; then older children were included, and today many young children also get their presents on Saint Nicholas' eve.

Poems can still accompany bigger gifts as well, though instead of being brought by Sinterklaas, people will draw names for an event comparable to Secret Santa. Gifts are to be creatively disguised (for which the Dutch use the French word "surprise"), and are usually accompanied by a humorous poem which often teases the recipient for well-known bad habits or other character deficiencies.





This is one of the songs the children sing in front of the chimney...



Such a fun time for the children, and probably it will be the last year that we celebrate Sinterklaas in this way. Because as soon as the children don't believe anymore most families only celebrate Xmas... now we do BOTH! Or they do celebrate it with giving only 1 gift to 1 member of your family by picking a name out of a hat and you create a funny gift with a poem for only that person you have on your tag. This is called 'pakjes avond'.

For now Jasmine and Juliet are so excited to meet 'Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet' at school on Saturday, more pictures on that later. See last year's event here and here.

Have a Terrific Thursday, I am off to my cooking class today, we call our group: DOT = Diversity On the Table :-)

Ciao, Mireille

Jasmine and Juliet meet Sinterklaas

So finally the girls see the 'Goed Heiligman' Sinterklaas for real at the Dutch school this morning. All the anticipation is finally over....

But first we celebrated 'pakjesavond' last night. We came home quite late since we had a photo shoot in Pretoria (results you will see later) and traffic is hurrendous between Pretoria and Johannesburg, but the girls had a great shooting and I think we will have a great result! So around 8pm, we were just finished with dinner and we're singing the Sinterklaas songs and suddenly....a loud bonking on the front door.
The girls rushed to the door, but the Black Pete's and Sinterklaas were gone... however, we found gifts laying all over the front step. Excitement galore and although we peeked on the street, nobody was seen. Too fast gone, but the girls didn't mind too much, they wanted to see what Sinterklaas had brought them. A letter from Sinterklaas for each JJ and Jezz. Which Dirk had to read for them, but in it said that Sinterklaas had heard they were both good girls, not naughty and he had brought them some nice gifts. A chocolate letter for each of us, a dinosaur egg that hatches after you keep it in water for a while, a pez candy disney figure and a bratz book with dress your own bratz girl. And of course a lot of typical Sinterklaas candy like pepernoten and such, I explained before.... The loud singing into the chimney had paid off!


Then this morning off to school, Sinterklaas arrived with a horse and carriage, everybody was waiting in anticipation. Smaller kids were crying... too much excitement. But finally the kids sang a lot of songs for Sinterklaas and the black Pete's were throwing pepernoten all over the place. And each kid had to come up on stage to receive his/her gift personally from Sinterklaas. How much fun!!

Jezz on Sinterklaas' lap.
JJ on Sinterklaas' lap.

They each got a mermaid Barbie from Sinterklaas, and Jezz commented on the wrapping paper: 'Hey, it is the same paper as last night?!' Of course sweetie, because it is from the same person' I replied ;-)

Sinterklaas is going back to Holland and then off to Spain again with his steamboat and all his Black Pete's and we're starting to decorate our house for Xmas ;-)

Funny and busy season with all these celebrations....
Mireille

Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet ~Saint Nicolas & Black Pete

Anticipation season has started in the Dijkstra household! The girls are asking me almost every day....well more a few times a day: When is Sinterklaas Kapoentje coming?? He has arrived on the Dutch TV with his steamboat from Spain...so the girls are following this daily and are wondering when they can put their shoe in front of the chimney, start singing their songs, add a carrot and some water for the horse. Now I see you thinking....are we missing here something, what is this? Well, it is a Dutch tradition, see more below, I tried to explain it to you. But there is a festival on December 5th that all young children in Holland celebrate: Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet. The holy man who arrives with his helpers on a steamboat from Spain, and he is celebrating his Bday by giving all the kids in Holland candy and gifts, but if you are naughty you will dissapear in the hemp bag from Black Pete and he takes you home on the steamboat....anticipation galore in our house....are we naughty or nice??

Sinterklaas tradition in the Netherlands
Traditionally, in mid-November, two weeks before his celebrated Feast Day, Sinterklaas arrives in the Netherlands by boat from his home in Spain (it is widely believed that Spanish sailors brought the legend of Saint Nicholas to the Netherlands). Accompanied by his white horse and his helpers, the Zwarte Pieten, he arrives in the Netherlands to signify the start of the holiday season.
This event is broadcast live, and each year Sinterklaas arrives in a different city. Many people from across the country welcome Sinterklaas at the harbour and watch him parade through the city's streets. During the two weeks before his "birthday", it is said that Sinterklaas rides across rooftops at night on his white horse, listening through chimneys for good children. Nice children that leave carrots in shoes for Sinterklaas' horse, wake up to shoes full of candy and treats. However, it is the eve before his Feast Day (Sinterklaasavond) that is the most highly anticipated by children, and the busiest day for Sinterklaas. This is the big day when Sinterklaas delivers presents to good children and coal to children who have been naughty.
On Sinterklaasavond (5 December), children anxiously wait for Sinterklaas to knock on their door, and when he does, children know that if they run to their door, a sack full of gifts will await them on their doorstep. Following Sinterklaas' visit, each member of the family takes turns handing out presents and unwrapping them. Names are printed on each gift, and almost every present is accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek poem about the gift's recipient.

Families celebrate Sinterklaas' Feast by singing songs and indulging in a feast of their own, which consists mainly of sweets like marzipan, chocolate initials, pepernoten (ginger biscuits) and hot chocolate with whipped cream. The image of Sinterklaas The traditional image of Sinterklaas is one of a bishop, clothed in a white garment and wrapped in a red cloak. He wears a tall red and gold hop'smiter (head dress) that covers his long white curly hair. He usually wears white gloves, and in one hand carries a tall metal staff and in the other hand the book of names. Like the North American concept of Santa Claus, he has a long white beard, however, unlike his North American cousin, he does not have a belly "like a bowl full of jelly".

Zwarte Piet: Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) always wear colourful and jovial costumes. They are adorned with gold earrings and hats with feathers and are generally considered simple and full of beans characters. Their role is to assist Sinterklaas by performing various holiday tasks, like delivering presents down chimneys and recording names of naughty and nice children in Sinterklaas' book of names.
Despite his colourful image, Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete, is a very controversial character in the Netherlands. He is called Black Pete because of his dark colouring, and while some attribute his skin colour to the soot from the chimneys he slides down, others criticise the character for being an old-fashioned stereotype and racist symbol of slavery.
The origin of Black Pete's character is not known, however many speculations have been made. Some believe that Black Pete is a symbol of the medieval Christian idea of evil, when black was often associated with evil. Others believe it is more probable that Black Pete is Saint Nicholas' Moorish servant, but with the absence of any historical proof, there is no way of knowing exactly what Black Pete represents.


The girls have picked out their gifts already, they desperately want Triops. These are prehistoric monsters also known as dinosaur shrimp that millions of kids have brought to life simply by adding water to eggs that are in suspended animation! Creepy crawlers that comes in a kit, you just add water and it grows. They make great pets....what they claim...I am not so sure about it (Yikes). But so the girls are really good these days, helping cleaning up the table after dinner and these kind of small chores, asking all the time: Mommy are we good, do you think Sinterklaas Kapoentje sees this?? (I tell them the whole time, that Sinterklaas has eyes and ears everywhere!!)

So we are in a good season ;-)....life is good...life is easy ;-)
How about you?
Ciao, Mireille