Bori goes to Holland

This year I have celebrated two things which I have never celebrated before. Both were amazing, so voila, my report.

American-style Thanksgiving

I participated in the first Thanksgiving dinner of my life, thanks to my dear American friend, Brittany. My immediate association to an American-style Thanksgiving was a huge stuffed-turkey, which was actually the only thing that was not present here. Allegedly there are no turkeys available in the Netherlands. So chicken it was, with carrots, beans and lots of other goodies, as you can see in this pic:

While shoveling the gorgeous food into our pieholes, the traditional Thanksgiving ritual took place: everybody had to say what they are thankful for. 

I know, it sounds clichéish, right? But let me tell you something: would YOU know what to say? I caught myself really preparing on summarizing the most important things which I would want to thank for. To say the things that I am really grateful of having, experiencing or whatever. So in the end, this whole little ritual made me appreciate everything I have. It made me feel thankful, goddammit. Even without a turkey.

So, if you ever get the chance, go to a Thanksgiving dinner, or even better, organize one, and feel the magic happen :)

Dutch-style Sinterklaas fun

The second holiday I want to talk about is more in context with the place I live: it is the Dutch Sinterklaas event. Oh dear, this country is crazy.

I don't even know how to begin. Sinterklaas is a weird mixture of the Hungarian Mikulás and Santa Claus. Actually the English name of Santa Claus originates from him: so YES, Sinterklaas was first. I found this fact to be quite disturbing.

Anyways, the tricky part is that unlike Santa Claus and unlike our Mikulás, he looks more like a pope:

To give a background, just like its Hungarian version, the figure originates from Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. In Hungary he comes on the 6th of December, here they mainly celebrate on the evening before.

So the thing is, this old man comes from Spain every year in November to the Netherlands on a steamboat, with a lot of Zwarte Pieten, or Black Petes. I mean, for real. This is broadcast on national television every year since 1952. Here you can check the first broadcast:

Then he walks around all Holland and gives presents and chocolate to the good children, which is taken down the chimney by the Black Petes - so they are black because of the soot and dirt, and not because this whole mascarade is a symbolic representation of the Dutch colonizations. This has actually been quite an issue in the last few years: some say its tradition, some say its racism. Well, whatever the case might be, the kids always fancy the Zwarte Pieten more because they are funnier than the old guy sitting on a horse. And also because the bad kids are taken away in bags back to Spain, which is less of a punishment than a reward :)

What we have to learn from this story, is that if I understood it correctly, Sinterklaas is a bigger deal here than Christmas. According to me fellow Dutchies at university, every family has their own little games and rituals to celebrate. One classmate, Romy, invited all of the class over to her house to give a little insight into one version of Sinterklaas games. Similar to Secret Santa, we had to take (two) presents, but unlike Secret Santa, without knowing who would get it in the end. Then we sat in a circle and waited eagerly. 

The game itself was rolling the dice and acting accordingly: we played several rounds swapping giving taking losing and unwrapping gifts, which was a lot of fun. There is some kind of tradition of making a surprise (pronounced in the French way by the Dutch), which we couldn't really decode, so some of us tried to be creative with the wrapping: the pinkish little ball in the middle is my little icecone, and the red milk box is actually also a gift, wrapped up.

What can I say, both newly learned traditions were pretty awesome. So I guess two more entries in my festive calendar from now on. :)