Happy Sinterklaas!

December 5th is Sinterklaas. Basically a Christmas variant prior to the usual Christmas on the 25th. But it has different traditions, some of which are well, really weird :-P

First there's Sinterklass who is basically Saint Nicholas, but might have some pagan Odin overtones. He's an old white dude with a beard and red robes, but wears a pope-type hat and carries a big shepherd's crook around. The hat and/or clothes always have a cross on them. He gives present to children.

Then there's the "Black Petes". This is white people wearing poncy 17th century clothes complete with flat velvet(ish) hat with feather, brightly colored tights, poofy velvet(ish) shorts, and a doublet. Oh yeah - they also put on blackface, red lipstick, and curly afro wigs. I think they'd get arrested if doing that in the US :-P Apparently Black Pete used to be a name for the devil, and but Sinterklaas enslaved the devils and put them to work. The current politically correct explanation is that Black Petes are black from going down chimneys. This doesn't quite explain the afro wig or lipstick.

Anyhow, we saw a Sinterklaas and a flock of Zwarte Pieten flocking around the local shopping area last month. The Black Petes seem to especially enjoy hamming it up - and at least half are women, though they all dress the same. Last week, on my bus to Utrecht, most of the neighborhood kids coming home from class for lunch were dressed as Black Pete - all of the boys and a majority of the girls. Though instead of black face, they had some of mom's concealer or spray tan on to darken their faces. Really it was more of an Orange Pete look.

We had some nice Sinterklaas Eve snow. The start of it (while at the shopping area) was damn near a blizzard. It took half an hour to get out of the parking lot: 3 entrances, 1 exit :-P We finally made it home and got a few inches of snow, which is now melting.

It was VERY cold last week so I'm glad it's finally warming up. Walking nearly a mile after sunset with a strong wind in 20 degree weather is NOT FUN. My hands were numb by the time I got on the bus, and red and wrinkly for a while afterward.

The snow was nice though ... first the canals got a layer of ice, then got covered by a layer of snow, and it was very pretty.