Sinterklaas is coming to town.

So those of you that are fans of David Sedaris have probably heard a little about this before but for the rest of you here is your introduction to Sinterklaas, the dutch version of Santa Claus (actually you really should hear it from Sedaris too if you have time Six to Eight Black Men ). So like Santa, Sinterklaas is a version of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children and sailors. He brings gifts to good children, dresses in red and white, and enters your house by chimney. Unlike Santa, Sinter leaves gifts on December 6 (Saint Nicholas day), lives in Spain, and travels by boat and by horse. And instead of elves he has African slaves as helpers. Well former slaves. They are called Zwart Piets and are usually played by white people in black face. They are supposed to be somewhat mischievous and idiotic and probably the most prominent display of racism in the Netherlands. From the smiling Zwart Piet decorations hanging up in all the stores one could be lulled into the belief that yes in the past the piets were looked down upon but now they are a charming effort at incorporating diversity into the holiday. But I have been assured that that is not true and that its racist origins persist.

 Kurt and I are of the mindset of 'when in Rome do as the Romans do' so we have talked to the boys about Sinterklaas (we told Leif he was Santa's cousin) and we plan to give them little gifts on the 6th. There is another component of the Sinterklaas tradition which is the arrival of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands in late November. There is a huge ceremony and everyone gathers to watch the boat come in. Today Sinterklaas arrived in Leiden and we took the boys to go see the spectacle. I was prepared to be horrified by the Zwart Piets and to silently judge all of the Dutch people around me. The truth is it was a very festive gathering. All the children were dressed as zwart piets (some in even in black face which was still disturbing) but I saw no animosity toward the Zwart Piets. The kids loved them as much as Sinterklaas himself. So I am going to go naively out on a limb and give the dutch the benefit of the doubt that they have given up their racist ideas and have come to embrace this character as their equal and as a cherished part of their holiday.
  Klaus enjoyed dancing to the music and watching the Zwart Piet acrobats. Leif said his favorite part was the woman on stage singing the (awful) songs about Sinterklaas. They both enjoyed the gobs of kruidnoten (little gingerbread cookies) handed out by the Zwart Piets and the free balloons. Surprisingly Leif was not impressed by this: