Christmas Dag

December 25th arrives with less fanfare in the Netherlands than it does in North America, but it still manages to get pretty Christmas-y here, with many streets, businesses, and homes decked out with many of the same lights and decorations.

What you notice on a broader level, however, is a much lower emphasis on commercialism.

Yes, it does seem to be on the rise as Western cultural influence spreads (Dutch radio stations encourage you to "have a nice day" or "have a Merry Christmas" as their patter is more and more frequently sprinkled with English. Dutch TV stations broadcast cultural heavyweights like The Bachelor and Desperate Housewives). But there are still some big differences.

Two days ago, a newspaper from back home detailed stories of people sleeping outside and lining up overnight to take advantage of Boxing Day specials at various stores - a scene also happening in many other cities in Canada and the U.S. That doesn't happen here.

That same day I had a conversation with a newly arrived North American, and it struck me how much of his side of the conversation was peppered with house prices, types of cars, and job titles. It was mostly notable because I realized how little I've discussed these items in the past 15 months, and maybe how much I used to before.

These topics rarely come up over here ('over here' can also mean Europe in general), particularly when meeting someone for the first time.

This isn't to suggest that conversations on this side of the Atlantic are all deep and meaningful nor that there's not some world-class pretentiousness and consumerism here - there definitely is - but the emphasis is subtly yet noticeably different. And very refreshing.

Some images of Christmas Day near the home in the Oud West area, close to the current apartment...

I did, however, consume the *$!# out of this cake

Sinterklaas

Piets on the Streets

Sinterklaas. Saint Nicholas. Or Sint, for short. December 5th sees Sint all over the Netherlands, aided often by his helper Zwarte Piet (Black Pete).

The Feast of Sinterklaas resembles the North American Christmas - although it is celebrated 20 days earlier, and with a few subtle differences.

First, and most commonly expressed by the naive expat from Canada or the U.S., is "Holy crap is that ever racist", upon seeing Zwarte Piet.

Dressed in blackface, with afros, and acting mildly slavish (think Santa's elves, maybe in Mississippi circa 1950), these little imps are explained in various ways, as the Devil (who is enslaved by St. Nicholas), to just straight-up slaves, to the totally benign kid-who-climbed-down-a-chimney-and-is-now-covered-in-soot. Piet throws candies to the kids in parades, hands out gifts, and causes some mild mischief throughout the month.

So we'll adopt the latter definition above, as most Nederlanders prefer to do anyhow. And there doesn't seem to be any malice nor any sinister undertones to people of all ages dressing up as Piet, so we'll move on. But the lingering impression is an uneasy one, and you won't see me or any of the expats I've spoken to about it smearing on the blackface anytime soon.

Both kids are eye-balling the gifts instead of Sint

Anyhow... back to Sint. I had the good fortune of spending a pretty authentic Sinterklaas feast with family, and the uncle provided the full entertainment as a very impressive version of the old gift-giver. Sint comes over from Spain (know why? I don't. Fill us in on the comments below - first correct answer wins a pepernote). I'm thinking it's because he prefers to spend as little time getting rained on in Holland during November and December, and it's a heck of a lot warmer than the North Pole.

Sinterklaas greets the adults as well

The tradition is to give gifts to the kids of course, and many adults do a Secret Santa gift exchange with a set monetary limit, just like back home. Often these gifts can be homemade, including elaborate wrapping for the recipient to wade through, like jello pudding made to simluate sheep guts (really, this is tough to explain - just trust me on this).

A marked difference is the more celebratory feel than back home - all the adults join the kids in singing a bunch of songs to usher Sinterklaas into the house, and poems accompany each gift - the giver needs to write a few lines to the getter, usually including some mild ribbing. On the downside, there is less of a turkey-gorging feast.

To celebrate the actual Christmas day on December 25th, there's still no turkey - European gobblers can breathe a sigh of relief while their cousins across the ocean get carved up - just nice dinner, this time sans Piet.