{"id":4714,"date":"2016-11-14T21:07:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T21:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=4714"},"modified":"2018-01-06T07:08:44","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T07:08:44","slug":"sinterklaas-is-back-4-things-you-gotta-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/sinterklaas-is-back-4-things-you-gotta-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinterklaas is back! 3 Things You Gotta Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>Sinterklaas is weer in het land<\/em>! On December 5,\u00a0Sinterklaas brings them presents with his\u00a0<em>pieten<\/em>. He arrives around a month before the\u00a0<em>feest\u00a0<\/em>(celebration), actually. Who? What? Why? Just read on &#8211; all you need to know about Sinterklaas right here!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>1. Sinterklaas is Dutch children&#8217;s Christmas<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wie is de kerstman?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F6TnrDDQPC4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Sinterklaas is in many ways like Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas. Here a few similarities:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both have a\u00a0<em>witte baard\u00a0<\/em>(white beard) and are\u00a0<em>oud\u00a0<\/em>(old).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both wear a lot of\u00a0<em>rood\u00a0<\/em>(red) and\u00a0<em>wit\u00a0<\/em>(white).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both bring <em>cadeaus\u00a0<\/em>(presents) for the\u00a0<em>kinderen\u00a0<\/em>(children).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both have magical ways of delivering those\u00a0<em>cadeaus\u00a0<\/em>&#8211; and both use the\u00a0<em>schoorsteen\u00a0<\/em>(chimney)!<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both deliver all presents within one night.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both have &#8220;pre-presents&#8221; for Children (the sock for Santa, the\u00a0<em>schoen\u00a0<\/em>(shoe) for Sinterklaas).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both have plenty of songs written about them.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both have many, many helpers.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They are both from mystical places.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They both categorize children into\u00a0<em>stout\u00a0<\/em>(naughty) or\u00a0<em>zoet\u00a0<\/em>(nice).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">They are basically the same person! If you look at their origin, that makes sense. They are both based on the same historical figure Nikolaos of Myra.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">A few things that make Sinterklaas unique and easily recognizable are his <em>mijter\u00a0<\/em>(miter), his\u00a0<em>staf\u00a0<\/em>(staff), and\u00a0&#8211; very important &#8211;\u00a0<em>het grote boek\u00a0<\/em>(the big book). In that\u00a0<em>boek<\/em>, it says whether children have been\u00a0<em>stout\u00a0<\/em>(naughty) or\u00a0<em>zoet\u00a0<\/em>(nice). In a Sinterklaas song, it becomes clear what consequences this has:\u00a0<em>wie zoet is krijgs lekkers, wie stout is de roe<\/em> (who&#8217;s nice gets sweets, who&#8217;s naughty gets the cane). Brutal, yes, and no, that does not happen anymore. ALL children are sweet of course, and get presents!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Another thing that distinguishes Sinterklaas is his <em>Schimmel <\/em>(grey\u00a0horse), named Amerigo. He rides the roofs with it to bring the presents!<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 812px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nl.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Amerigo#\/media\/File:Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008.jpg\" aria-label=\"1920px Amerigo With Sinterklaas 2008\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\"  alt=\"Sinterklaas on his horse Amerigo (Image by Pieter Wiersinga at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 4.0)\" width=\"802\" height=\"533\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/02\/Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008.jpg\/1920px-Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008.jpg\"><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sinterklaas on his horse Amerigo (Image by Pieter Wiersinga at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 4.0)<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Furthermore, Sinterklaas doesn&#8217;t have elves as helpers, but\u00a0<em>pieten<\/em>!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>2. Sinterklaas has helpers: pieten!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div style=\"width: 356px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nl.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zwarte_Piet#\/media\/File:Intocht_van_Sinterklaas_in_Schiedam_2009_(4103582848)_(2).jpg\" aria-label=\"800px Intocht Van Sinterklaas In Schiedam 2009 %284103582848%29 %282%29\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\"  alt=\"A zwarte piet (Image by Sander van der Wel at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 2.0)\" width=\"346\" height=\"519\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/8f\/Intocht_van_Sinterklaas_in_Schiedam_2009_%284103582848%29_%282%29.jpg\/800px-Intocht_van_Sinterklaas_in_Schiedam_2009_%284103582848%29_%282%29.jpg\"><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A zwarte piet (Image by Sander van der Wel at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Sinterklaas has his helpers, the\u00a0<em>pieten<\/em>. There are many different kinds of them, and they all have their role. Much like the Smurfs, really! There is\u00a0<em>DJ-piet<\/em>, who is a DJ, obviously,\u00a0<em>vergeet-piet<\/em>, the piet that forgets everything&#8230; You get the point \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">There has been a very long discussion whether\u00a0<em>pieten\u00a0<\/em>are a racist phenomenon. In the United States, white people painting their faces black and their lips red would cause upheaval, but it is a normal part of the tradition, and so many people see any change in it a big problem. The compromise that was found last year were different kinds of\u00a0<em>pieten<\/em>, for example\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/zwarte-piet-black-pete-still-there\/\"><em>stroopwafelpiet<\/em><\/a>. This year &#8211; and I personally think it makes more sense &#8211; the compromise is to have\u00a0<em>pieten\u00a0<\/em>that are either &#8220;normal&#8221;, completely white\u00a0<em>pieten<\/em> and\u00a0<em>pieten\u00a0<\/em>with\u00a0<em>roetvegen\u00a0<\/em>(soot smudges).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">This makes sense, because\u00a0<em>pieten\u00a0<\/em>are black because they go into the chimneys to deliver the presents, so it makes sense that they have\u00a0<em>roetvegen\u00a0<\/em>on their faces. It is an endless discussion though, it seems, because many people still don&#8217;t think this is acceptable. In both camps.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Regardless, they are very popular and very much a part of Sinterklaas!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>3. Sinterklaas and his pieten arrived last Saturday &#8211; under heavy police surveillance!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sBa_lTokI0I<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">In the story, Sinterklaas is from Spain and arrives in the Netherlands on his\u00a0<em>pakjesboot\u00a0<\/em>(presents boat), together with his\u00a0<em>pieten\u00a0<\/em>in the beginning of November. This was on Saturday, the 12th of November. Every year, the <em>intocht\u00a0<\/em>(entry) is held in a different city. This year, it was in Maassluis.\u00a0See the whole thing in the video above. That is the\u00a0<em>Sinterklaasjournaal\u00a0<\/em>(Sinterklaas News), by the way, which is ongoing for a few weeks before December 5. It is made specially for children, with all the fun of songs, issues with the\u00a0<em>pakjesboot\u00a0<\/em>or the\u00a0<em>pieten\u00a0<\/em>make a mess&#8230; Or Amerigo is\u00a0<em>ziek\u00a0<\/em>(sick)&#8230; Of course, in the end, everything works out!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>So, Sinterklaas is back in the country! Do you celebrate Sinterklaas, Christmas with Santa, or something like it? What do you think about the whole\u00a0discussion about the\u00a0<em>pieten<\/em>? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"232\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/11\/1920px-Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008-350x232.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/11\/1920px-Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008-350x232.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/11\/1920px-Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/11\/1920px-Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/11\/1920px-Amerigo_with_Sinterklaas_2008.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Sinterklaas is weer in het land! On December 5,\u00a0Sinterklaas brings them presents with his\u00a0pieten. He arrives around a month before the\u00a0feest\u00a0(celebration), actually. Who? What? Why? Just read on &#8211; all you need to know about Sinterklaas right here! 1. Sinterklaas is Dutch children&#8217;s Christmas Sinterklaas is in many ways like Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/sinterklaas-is-back-4-things-you-gotta-know\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":4716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[60713,27711],"tags":[3,911,34675,7,3652,913],"class_list":["post-4714","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-2","category-dutch-vocabulary-2","tag-culture","tag-current-events","tag-debate","tag-holidays","tag-sinterklaas","tag-traditions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4714"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5311,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714\/revisions\/5311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}