It's Sinterklaas time in the Netherlands which is a sort of Christmas before Christmas. Well... that's how I think of it, but I've been told a million times that "nooo... our Sinterklaas has nothing to do with Santa Claus. It's a totally different thing." (and in fact, they do celebrate Christmas here and this holiday is accompanied by the jolly ol' fat man that we Americans know and love)

Anyhoo... it's somewhat hard for me to explain... but basically it's a feast to celebrate Saint Nicholas' birthday, which is celebrated on December 5th. However, Sinterklaas sets sail from Spain (huh? Why Spain?) and arrives, by boat, in the Netherlands earlier than that (last Saturday to be exact). Once here, he delivers gifts to all the good dutch girls and boys and the bad ones he whips with a stick. (um, yeeeaaaaahhhh)

But that's not the crazy part. Sinterklaas is accompanied by his Zwarte Pieten (say: zvarta peetin -- Black Peters) Now... nobody's really sure who these guys are, other than they are Sinterklaas'... um.... helpers. (no no no... they are not servants, though apparently they do all the work while Sinterklaas takes it easy... you know, sips coffee and smokes some weed...) Some say the tradition stems from the Moors in Spain. Others, that they're black because they were chimney sweeps. See this website for a good description of the holiday: http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/13R2.html

But what they really are are pasty pale Dutch guys in blackface. Now, as you can imagine, part of me wanted to have a heart attack when I saw them. (and the dozens of little kids whose faces were also painted black in emulation of Piet) But nobody seems to be offended here because, well, they just don't have the ingrained race problems we have in the States. Oh yeah, and apparently the Piets are a bit mischevious, if not downright bad. Apparently, a common Dutch parent threat is (which frightened Martijn to death when he was a kid): "If you're not good, Zwarte Piet will throw you in his sack and take you to Spain!!" I, for one, am doing everything in my power to be as bad as possible because after experiencing a few weeks of the Dutch autumn, I would really like to be taken to Spain.

Anyhoo, enjoy the pics and go to the website to better understsand the holiday.

This is the first of the Zwarte Pieten arriving in the harbor. Note that some of the Black Peters are already swinging from a crane on the right side of the picture.

Dutch children dressed like Pete, sans blackface.

Here comes Sinterklaas' ship! (The horse on the sail is the symbol of this region the Netherlands.)

Me, putting on my most innocent face, so I'll get candy from Black Pete. (the Petes are a tough crowd. You gotta look pathetic to get the goods.)

Success! Pete gave me some tasty pepernoten.

A typical response to Pete "Hmmmm... I want what he has, but I"m also a little afraid of this guy..."