Sinterklaas!

Let me tell you about the great Dutch holiday tradion of Sinterklaas. Every year towards the end of November, Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, arrives in The Netherlands on a boat from Spain. I witnessed his arrival this year in Cuijk with my friend Natasja. Sinterklaas looks sort of like Santa Claus, but with fancier threads, less weight, and a big, golden staff. He's accompanied by Zwarte Piet, or Black Petes. The kids go wild and all sorts of goodies are passed around. Crazy fun.

On December 5th, children receive gifts and treats from Sinterklaas in shoes. Older kids and adults celebrate in various other ways. Some families or groups of friends do a sort of "Secret Santa" gift exchange where they give a special gift to just one person and also write a poem for that person about the past year and their relationship to that person. That's pretty special.

In our department, we had a really fun Sinterklaas gift exchange party. Everyone bought three presents with a total cost less than 5 euro. All gifts were piled into the middle of a table at a nice cafe/bar. On each person's turn, they rolled the dice and chose, unwrapped, exchanged, or passed around presents based on the number rolled. For example, if a "2" was rolled, all gifts were passed to the right. If "6" was rolled, the player took a prize from the pile. I ended up with some cool stuff, including a glowing rubber ducky, Dutch Yahtzee, and shoe polish.

Its really great to experience the holiday season in a foreign country with unique holiday traditions. Coming soon...Christmas Markets in Dusseldorf, Germany.