{"id":6803,"date":"2020-11-23T13:48:40","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T13:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=6803"},"modified":"2020-11-23T13:48:40","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T13:48:40","slug":"how-did-sinterklaas-arrive-in-the-netherlands-during-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/how-did-sinterklaas-arrive-in-the-netherlands-during-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did Sinterklaas Arrive in The Netherlands During COVID?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most cherished Dutch traditions, the\u00a0Sinterklaasfeest\u00a0(St. Nicholas celebration) is a cultural beacon in the Netherlands. With his arrival on his\u00a0stoomboot\u00a0(steamboat) from\u00a0Spanje\u00a0(Spain) every year in November to his mysterious delivery of the\u00a0pakjes\u00a0(&#8220;little packages&#8221;, gifts) for the big night of opening them on pakjesavond (&#8220;little packages evening&#8221;) on December 5 to the abundance of cavity-inducing candy available everywhere, even a global pandemic won&#8217;t grind this\u00a0feest\u00a0to a halt. But how does\u00a0Sinterklaas\u00a0work during COVID times?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A Surprise Arrival<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Intocht van de Sint is op allerlei manieren gevierd\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hhUlR73A4So?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>Usually,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/sinterklaas-is-back-4-things-you-gotta-know\/\">Sinterklaas\u00a0arrives in November with a lot of fanfare.<\/a> The official location where the boat arrives is made public in advance, so that people can go there for a proper <em>welkom<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em>(welcome) of Sinterklaas. However, this year, the location was not revealed, and it was only televised. However, from different places around the Netherlands, there were small delegations of\u00a0<em>kinderen\u00a0<\/em>(children) and\u00a0<em>burgemeesters\u00a0<\/em>(mayors) that welcomed\u00a0<em>Sint\u00a0<\/em>with specialties from their region.<\/p>\n<p>But there is not only one\u00a0<em>Sinterklaas\u00a0<\/em>that arrives in the country &#8211; he has to be everywhere at the same time, after all! Other towns figured out other ways to welcome\u00a0<em>Sinterklaas<\/em>, many with an online appearance only. Arnhem, for example, produced a half-hour film depicting the secret\u00a0<em>intocht\u00a0<\/em>(entry) in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"De geheime intocht van Sinterklaas - Arnhem 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aBj2QSMRUTQ?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>It is customary for children to visit Sinterklaas and tell him what they would like to get. If you can&#8217;t see him in person, why not tell him via a video call? In some towns, you could hold a video call with <em>Sinterklaas\u00a0<\/em>and his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/zwarte-piet-black-pete-still-there\/\"><em>zwarte pieten\u00a0<\/em>(black petes)<\/a>. And one of my favorite solutions: the <em>pepernoodstop\u00a0<\/em>(gingerbread emergency stop).\u00a0<em>Pepernoten\u00a0<\/em>are small, round cookies made with\u00a0<em>speculaaskruiden <\/em>\u00a0(speculaas spices).<sup class=\"modern-footnotes-footnote \" data-mfn=\"1\" data-mfn-post-scope=\"0000000000002f0d0000000000000000_6803\"><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"  role=\"button\" aria-pressed=\"false\" aria-describedby=\"mfn-content-0000000000002f0d0000000000000000_6803-1\">1<\/a><\/sup><span id=\"mfn-content-0000000000002f0d0000000000000000_6803-1\" role=\"tooltip\" class=\"modern-footnotes-footnote__note\" tabindex=\"0\" data-mfn=\"1\">While technically, pepernoten are different, and these depicted here are kruidnoten, they are almost always referred to as pepernoten, as these are vastly more popular than the actual pepernoten.<\/span> Usually, they are distributed by<em> zwarte pieten\u00a0<\/em>during the\u00a0<em>aankomst\u00a0<\/em>(arrival) of Sinterklaas, by throwing them into the crowds for children to catch. But that was not possible this year, of course. Large crowds are a no-go. However, that does not mean that you can&#8217;t have\u00a0<em>strooigoed<\/em>! In Vorden, a town close to Arnhem, they made a <em>Sinterklaas drive-through<\/em>, where you could pass by with your car to see Sinterklaas, receive a bag of\u00a0<em>strooigoed<\/em> at the <em>pepernoodstop <\/em>and hear the zwarte pieten sing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/sing-along-with-sinterklaas\/\"><em>Sinterklaasliedjes<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6805\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/nl\/photos\/sinterklaas-pepernoten-zwarte-piet-2940508\/\" aria-label=\"Strooigoed Kruidnoten Pepernoten Sint Sinterklaas 1024x611\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6805\" class=\"size-large wp-image-6805\"  alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"611\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-1024x611.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-1024x611.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-350x209.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-768x458.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6805\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Different <em>strooigoed<\/em> (&#8220;sprinkle goods&#8221;) thrown into the crowd upon arrival of <em>Sinterklaas<\/em> by the <em>Zwarte Pieten<\/em>. (Image by Nietjuh at Pixabay.com)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A great way to keep distance and yet to be able to welcome\u00a0<em>Sinterklaas\u00a0<\/em>properly! Let&#8217;s hope that the\u00a0<em>pakjesavond\u00a0<\/em>can be celebrated normally&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think about this\u00a0<em>intocht<\/em>? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"modern-footnotes-list modern-footnotes-list--show-only-for-print\"><li><span>1<\/span><div>While technically, pepernoten are different, and these depicted here are kruidnoten, they are almost always referred to as pepernoten, as these are vastly more popular than the actual pepernoten.<\/div><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"209\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-350x209.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-350x209.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-1024x611.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas-768x458.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/11\/Strooigoed_Kruidnoten_Pepernoten_Sint_Sinterklaas.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>One of the most cherished Dutch traditions, the\u00a0Sinterklaasfeest\u00a0(St. Nicholas celebration) is a cultural beacon in the Netherlands. With his arrival on his\u00a0stoomboot\u00a0(steamboat) from\u00a0Spanje\u00a0(Spain) every year in November to his mysterious delivery of the\u00a0pakjes\u00a0(&#8220;little packages&#8221;, gifts) for the big night of opening them on pakjesavond (&#8220;little packages evening&#8221;) on December 5 to the abundance of cavity-inducing&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/how-did-sinterklaas-arrive-in-the-netherlands-during-covid\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":6805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[60713,3590,27711,27714],"tags":[529261,3652],"class_list":["post-6803","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-2","category-dutch-language","category-dutch-vocabulary-2","category-news-2","tag-coronavirus","tag-sinterklaas"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803","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=6803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6807,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions\/6807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}