Christmas time is here again and that includes many different traditions, whether it’s getting a visit from Santa Claus, gathering with family, or attending religious services.
This year is really the first time my husband and I are comparing notes on which traditions we want to continue celebrating. With two little ones running around, we need to get our story straight.
My husband grew up in Canada and loved running down the stairs on Christmas morning to see the presents delivered by Santa Claus. In his home, Santa left presents unwrapped in the living room beside the other gifts the family had gotten for each other.
Of course, my husband would love to watch our kids experience that same magic.
While I’m not opposed to this, I didn’t grow up with Santa Claus or any presents at Christmas at all. For any kids reading this, the Netherlands was just too far for Santa to travel.
Christmas for me as a kid was mainly a religious celebration and involved gathering with a lot of family.
The Dutch kids tradition involving presents occurred earlier in the month with presents being delivered on Dec. 5 by Sinterklaas – think of him as Santa’s older brother.
While the children’s holiday comes with some controversy, the magic of it is something I too would love to see our kids experience.
Starting in late November, the helpers of Sinterklaas would shimmy through our chimney to deliver candy in our shoes left out by the fireplace every night.
Then on the evening of Dec. 5, we would wait for a knock at the door and find a big sack of gifts left on our doorstep delivered by Sinterklaas on his white horse.
Some of you may already know about the controversy around this tradition.
Sinterklaas arrives in the Netherlands on a steam ship from Spain, flanked by a crew of helpers, otherwise known as “Black Pete.”
The tradition dates back to the 19th century, involving Black Pete dressed in blackface with an Afro wig, red lips, and golden hoop earrings.
Over time the Dutch have of course tried to separate the fun kids tradition from the racialized side of the story. Petes have since appeared with soot on their cheeks from sliding down the chimney and later a story was told that the steam boat flew through a rainbow to create multi-coloured Petes.
There is a lot of history you can find online that I won’t get into here.
While we won’t be endorsing any Black Pete dress-up games, our kids did get one gift delivered from Sinterklaas on Dec. 5.
And now with Dec. 25 coming up, we made a deal with Santa that he will drop off one gift for our boys too.
