Sinterklaas at Block E

Sint Nicolaas, Sinterklaas or just De Sint. All different ways to address this old saint. With his long white beard and friendly low voice, he still has a more important position in the Netherlands than Santa Clause.

December the 6^th is his deathday, but is currently referred to as his birthday. It is the day and preceding evening most Dutch children look forward too, as this day they will receive a lot of presents. Or, if you have been bad, it is a day to avoid, as Sinterklaas and his helper Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) may slap you with a rod and put you in a bag back to Spain. And yes, Sinterklaas knows everything, because he has a big book in which it says if you have been good or bad, and when he ask to sit on his fragile lap, he will ask all about what you have been up too. So be aware and don´t do anything stupid, because you will regret it. So from now on.... don´t get drunk/stoned or steal anyones crisps or milk. Say you love the freshly baked cookies, because they put a lot of effort in it.

Some time before the big festivities, Sinterklaas has to come all the way from Spain with his steamboat, facing the terrible weather at the Bay of Biscay. Every year it is a mirracle that he arrives alive at the harbour in the Netherlands. When his steamboat arrives, everybody cheers, trying to get a glimps of Sinterklaas and his white horse. The Zware Pieten are dancing and doing tricks, throwing candy at the children, especially pepernoten and taai taai poppen. From this moment on, Sinterklaas will walk on the roofs every night with his horse and Pieten. He will put little presents, pepernoten and mandarins in the shoes of the children who put their shoes at the chimney with a little note for de Sint and a carrot or sugercube for his horse. The children sing songs before going to bed and they are not able to sleep the whole night. This makes it hard for the parents to sneek to the chimney to slip something in their childens shoes and bite of a piece of the carrot. Disaster when the children find out it is actually not Sinterklaas who leaves them a present.

On Sinterklaas evening, there will be a loud banging on the window (often the neighbour) and there will be a big bag of present, sometimes with poems or suprise wrappings. The poems are all written and signed by Sinterklaas, or one of his Zwarte Pieten, often Poem Piet, or Present Piet, or any other Piet you can imagine or come up with. In the poems the receiver is confronted with it´s own life, either good, or bad, or very embarrasing.

This year, Sinterklaas will also cross the North Sea and pay a visit to the United Kingdom, with special attention to Leeds, St. Marks, Block E, on the 9^th of December. He needs a lot of help from Assistant Sinten and Pieten, who focus on one person. So to all Sinterklazen and Zwarte Pieten, keep track of your persons private life, write notes in your big book and buy a suitable present. Maybe you may even spank someone with a rod......