Sinterklaas arrived in Amsterdam this afternoon. There are various people performing on the Dam as part of the celebrations.
One more act to go by the look of it.

Thanks, Barbara (I'm assuming "it is you").

I missed Sinterklaas, but saw a lot of men in black with white collars and socks dancing down the street (burgermeisters?), and floats pulled by green tractors outfitted with huge horse heads on the front of them.

Robyn

Yes it's me! So you are keeping an eye on things from afar .

Sint arrived in the Netherlands (in Roermond this year) yesterday, and then he makes his entrance into cities, towns and villages throughout the land over the coming week. He arrived in my town yesterday afternoon. But by helicopter, not steamship - how else could he get from Roermond so fast?

@Robyn: those men in "black with white collars" are known as "zwarte Pieten" ("Black Petes"), they are Sinterklaas'es helpers. They scatter candy, make fun but also threaten naughty kids to take 'm back home to Spain when returning after December 5.

Very interesting information, lonely traveler. Thank you. I love learning about other customs. So now, what's the deal with shipping the naughty kids off to Spain? Is that where Sinterklaas & the zwarte Pieten live?

Robyn

SInterklaas lives in Madrid, with his Zwarte Pieten. Every year he comes by steamship to the Netherlands (and Flanders) two to three weeks before his "birthday". He returns home on his birthday December 6th having left presents for all the good children. The bad children used to be whipped, or collected by Zwarte Piet and put in his sack, but in modern times all children are good of course so that doesn't happen any more, except in the songs.

My grandsons left their shoes out on Saturday night, when they received a small present from Sint. They will get their main Sint present on December 5th. They celebrate it with their Dutch grandparents, and then celebrate Christmas with us so they get a double helping!

The shops are now full of Sinterklaas music, Taaitaai poppen, speculaas, marzepan and other goodies associated with the day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is a remnant of the Germanic "Wild Hunt": a more authentic ur-Sinterklaas is celebrated on the Dutch Islands in the North (Sunterklaas, Sunderum)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIiEtaoqwuM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DyMM9dgmzw

David Sedaris views on Sinterklaas.
pt1
http://youtu.be/sbJpRLhaSqs
pt2
http://youtu.be/vU1D1HKTDCY
pt3
http://youtu.be/g17Pl7MFMco

It all sounds familiar? Santa Claus is said to be modeled on Sinterklaas. The red suit, the white beard, helpers that climb down the chimney to fill stockings, it's all very similar to Sinterklaas. Read more on wikipedia.

Sinterklaas in turn is modeled on the 4th century figure of Nicholas, bishop of Myra (in Turkey these days, used to be from Greece origins). The man was known for his (secret) generosity.

The shoes Barbary talks about is something all kids do. They leave a shoe containing a carrot or hay for Nicholas' horse besides the chimney. The Black Petes climb down the chimney and replace the carrot by a small present (usually something sweet and chocolate).

Very popular are chocolate coins, small chocolate mints wrapped in foil to look like money. That custom refers to the myth where Nicholas dropped gold pieces through his neighbor's windows to keep him from exploiting his daughters as prostitutes.

There's a lot of folklore around Sinterklaas, all very interesting and providing a unique view on typical Dutch history. One could easily write a book or two about it. The church made him popular (he was introduced in the 12th/13th century to replace the festivities around Wodan) but once he became too popular (16th/17th century) the church tried everything in its power to stop the myth. Too little too late.

Present day Sinterklaas was introduced as a Dutch "neo-traditional" custom in the nineteenth century. That's the origin of customs such as the steamboat from Spain thing, the outfit of both the Saint and the helpers, and also of the blackface.

Lots of dutch people remember this: Adrie van Oorschot, most beloved of TV Sinterklazen and Mies Bouwman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKzEPbUKFTI

Thank you all, for the Sinterklaas education. I definately saw the parallel between Sinterklaas and Santa Clause, and the zwarte Pieten and the elves, and the shoes and the stockings; it was the arrival by steamship from Spain that surprised and intigued me.

And ribeirasacra - Oh my God...those clips were just too funny! They made me late for work this morning. I think I really have an understanding now of Sinterklaas.

menachem - Okay, I watched the videos, and I could see the "wild hunt" costumes on some of the guys, but those dudes in the haz-mat suits, and the the group with the baskets full of bottles on their heads, well - that had me totally confused. It was fun watching, none the less.

hetismij - Yes, I've been keeping an eye on Amsterdam. I have 5 different web cams that I check on most mornings, just to see what the weather is like, or what's happening on the Dam. The webcam for the Koningsplein has audio - sometimes is nice just to be able to hear the sounds of the city; the trams, the bells on the bikes, voices in the crowd. We're planning another visit in April 2013, for Queen's Day! We'll be landing in Amsterdam on the 18th, spending a few days getting over jet lag, then heading to Germany's Black Forest for a week, afterwards returning to A'dam for Queen's Day, and flying home on 3 May. Maybe we can get together for a visit when we're in the city? When the time gets closer I'll probably post a GTG alert.

Until then... Happy Sinterklaas Day everyone!!!

Robyn

@artstuff,

This was last year's Sunderum on the island of Terschelling. All men are required to make themselves unrecognizable, this used to be done by dressing up with branches and reeds, and you can still see that on some of them, traditionalists. Women are not allowed to go out, and can hang a lamp by the door signifying that a Sunderum may visit them. This they do (this is the going into and out of houses) and while they receive something (alcoholic) to drink, women ask them questions to find out who they are. If they are discovered, the mask comes off and they stay in the house where they were discovered. Of course, this was also (and still is) a courtship ritual, and the Sunderum who is recognized and his recognizer often become engaged in spring.

Anyway, nowadays, usually the disguise contains references to topical themes of island life, and in 2011 it was the news that Jumbo, a huge supermarket chain, was opening a huge supermarket on Terschelling, squeezing existing, smaller shops out. Hence the shopping baskets and the elephants, because part of their brand is the elephant logo.

But all this Sinterklaas stuff really refers back to the Ur-Sinterklaas, a much darker figure and the Wild Hunt is on in much of Europe and then looks something like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p1JYvV178E

Zwarte Piet is a domesticated version of Krampus, warrior from the underworld. I remember, that when I was a child, Zwarte Piet still was a fear inducing figure and was used as such, and the "whipping" references in Sinterklaas songs were to real occurrences in previous years.

On the island of Ameland, Sunterklaas celebrations often lead to beatings in the street, and tourists are routinely warned not to visit the island, and -if they do - stick to the rules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZi5aD39RZ8

I must confess, when hetismij & lonely traveler first started explaining about Sinterklass and his "helpers" I was kind of envious of the Dutch, for having a "realistic" santa/sinterklaas; he lived in Spain and arrived by steamboat, which was a much more plausible story than living at the North Pole and flying a magic sled around the world in one night.

But geeezzz!!! Those Krampus are scary YIKES!!! At least my parents just lied to me about a fairy tale... they didn't scare the sh*t out of me and leave me with nightmares.

Seriously folks, this has been wonderful fun for me, and I want to thank everyone for their part in my education of Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten/Krampus.

Robyn