Sinterklaas arrives in Kampen!

On Saturday, November 16th, a very special holiday kicked off in the Netherlands: the Sinterklaas Festival!  Sinterklaas (click here to learn more) arrived on Saturday, via steam boat, with his "zwarte piet" helpers, and will be here through December 6th.  The entrance of the Saint was nothing but grand, exciting and believable!  We bundled ourselves up for the cold, foggy morning, and headed down to the river to join the growing and anticipatory crowd. 

Cold and foggy.

Best friends - Ever and Maddie

The amazing threesome.

We're ready!

Our fabulous friends, and family-away-from-home, the Cooke's.

Ever - watching, and probably not entirely sure what she is watching out for.  I'm not sure any of us were entirely sure what to expect!

Here comes the steamboat!  It was a party - fun music was being played by a brass band on board, the Zwarte Piet helpers on the boat were dancing and waving, and the crowd onshore was singing and bouncing all over the place. 

There he is!  He is surrounded by "Zwarte Piet" helpers, dozens and dozens of them, to be exact.  Currently, there is a big national debate over the topic of Zwarte (black) Piet, and the discussion of racism.  As Americans, we were definitely taken aback by what we saw, but we also knew that this is a long-standing traditional holiday in the Netherlands, and decided to just take it in for what it was in the moment, as odd as it may appear to us.

 

 

The brass band - they were quite good and entertaining.

Sinterklaas, making his way onshore, to be welcomed by the mayor, and parade down the street with his horses. 

Celebrating this Dutch holiday with friends, old and new!  Here we are with the Cooke family and Tom, a fellow Dutch student from the university.  He has also been heading up the housing operation for us over here.  A wonderful new friend!

Maddie had been waiting and preparing for this day all week!  Boy, was she ready!

The entire town seemed to come out for the grand arrival - so many people in Kampen - I loved it!!

We slipped inside De Eenhoorn for some coffee and to warm up from the cold.  In the process of posing for the picture, a Zwarte Piet popped over and joined us.

Maddie got to shake hands with Sinterklaas, as he paraded by.

Everyone was quite happy with the special moment.

I have been doing my research for well over a month, prepared to take full advantage of experiencing a new holiday in a new culture.  Upon Saturday's arrival, I actually had a few details sprung on me that altered what I had originally been planning on.  You see, the Sinterklaas Festival takes place for three weeks, leading up to the grand "Pakjesavond," (present evening) on December 5th.  We had been planning on putting our wooden shoes out by the door on the night of the 5th, in hopes that Sinterklaas would pay us a visit that night, leaving us little treats and possibly a few small presents.  However, new information was given to me on Saturday, that in the Netherlands, shoes can be put out as much as every night between now and the 5th of December.  That's three weeks worth of little treats and presents, all leading up to a big present evening!?  Wow.  Sounds exciting and expensive all at the same time to me.  But that didn't stop us from being spontaneous and changing our plans (at least our plan on when the shoes would go out - we do not plan to participate in this tradition every.single.night).  We bought our giant carrot for Sinterklaas' horse, laid it out with our wooden shoes that night, and we waited for morning to come.

He CAME!!

Look, Daddy - his horse took a bite out of the carrot!

Sinterklaas gave Maddie and Geoffrey a new movie (the only movie we have here, so it was pretty exciting) - Toy Story 2. 

Amongst the little candies and cookies, Geoffrey also got a little Mater truck - he hasn't let it out of his sight, yet!  Maddie was given a small Mater puzzle, which she loves.

Maddie and Geoffrey both got reindeer ornaments, too.

A happy morning!

Brant was given a little snow boot ornament, along with a poem that Sinterklaas wrote special just for him.  (Writing a poem to go along with a gift is also a tradition here).  And Sinterklaas left some delicious smelling candles for me in my shoe!

Another tradition is to give chocolate letters.  Maddie was bound and determined to eat this entire thing on the spot, but we managed to fend her off of eating it all....for a little while.

Geoffrey, enjoying some krudnoten (little gingerbread cookies - the size of a dime), another traditional treat left by Sinterklaas.

  The Sinterklaas Festival continues, as I mentioned above, through the 5th of December.  I guess on the next two Saturdays, Sinterklaas, along with the Zwarte Piet helpers will be out and about in town, keeping the festive spirit in the air.  And Maddie's school is no exception - it is decked out from top to bottom, in banners, presents and pictures of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet.  She loves it! :)  Happy Sinterklaas Feest!