Cultural Compass: Sinterklaas New

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Noa

Adressed to the Army of Club Penguin

BLIZZARD, Shamrock Bulletin Headquarters – Welcome to our new column called: Cultural Compass! In this column we will be exploring different countries their traditions. This time we will take a look at a Dutch tradition called ‘Sinterklaas’.

Let us start by explaining what the tradition is and how it goes. Sinterklaas is like the brother of Santa Claus, since the story is used to amuse little children. Sinterklaas has got a white beard and wears a red and white collored attire. It includes golden details.

Next to this, he has his own helpers called “zwarte/roetveeg pieten” and a light grey horse’ that he uses to go over the roofs of houses. The reason why he goes on roofs is because he uses chimneys to get in like Santa Claus. When sliding down the chimney, he leaves presents in the shoes of the children who have been good and teaches the ones that have been bad a lesson. There’s even a big night where there’s a whole stack of presents brought to the houses! It may all sound a bit insane, but that’s how it goes!

Date

On history sites it’s known that the big night with presents on December 5th is in the Netherlands and on the 6th in Belgium. However, he arrives between November 10th & 16th. He arrives on a big steamship with all of his helpers and of course the children’s their presents!

Food

We did not forget about the food coming with the tradition either! Sinterklaas brings not only sweets and chocolate, but also ‘pepernoten’ with him! The sweets can include a lot of things, like in a form of Sinterklaas himself or a present. Pepernoten is a typical Dutch food eaten around the holiday. I listed some of them:

One of the older sweets is ‘Taai-taai’ is a cookie. The translation is literally ‘tough tough’ and the translation does not disappoint as they’re not easy to chew.
Chocolate letters, the name already says it, chocolate in the form of all sorts of letters!
Last but not least, the Amandelstaaf, it’s a typical thing to be given to the adults. It’s an almond pastry!

Regarding the tradition, we had also interviewed former Dutch Staff Member Sinz!

Welcome to this interview about Sinterklaas! What is your favourite thing to do during this event? 😛

well honestly my favourite thing to do during Sinterklaas is basically eating. Like pepernoten, chocolate letters and those schuimpjes
Do you have a specific memory you’d like to share related to Sinterklaas?

Oohh yes I do! I remember there was a Sinterklaas optocht in my city when I was around 7 years old and I was asking every zwarte piet for pepernoten and stuff 💀 I ended up having 2 full plastic bags with candy and pepernoten 😻

Damnn, 2 full plastic bags? That’s insane! There aren’t a lot of countries celebrating the holiday, do you think that more countries should celebrated? And why?

Well yeahh It would be awesome if it was celebrated more in other countries, because Sinterklaas can give many children a great childhood memory.

Awhhh, that’s a nice thought! Many people compare Sinterklaas with Santa Claus? Do you prefer one over the other?

hmm yes, I prefer Santa Claus over Sinterklaas. Santa Claus gives a better vibe off with the whole christmas theme honestly

💔 poor Sinterklaas 😔 He’s gonna take you back to Spain. Is there anything you’d like to add?

oops my baddd, uhh not really but thank you for wanting to interview me ^^

Thank you, Sinz, for allowing me to interview you about your country’s event! Sinterklaas is indeed something as you can read above in our first edition of Cultural Compass. Even though he looks like Santa Claus, there are quite some difference between them!

What do YOU think of our new column? Should Sinterklaas be celebrated in more countries? Let us know down Below! If you have any suggestions, don’t forget to let us know.

Noa

Field Marshal & Shamrock Bulletin Reporter