Sinterklaas! It’s one of the most important Dutch holidays (Christmas is a different holiday). The actual day is December 5, and though we originally planned to celebrate with our Dutch family, sadly we’ll be gone by then. But this weekend we experienced a little of the festivities: yesterday Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands (from Spain, of course) and today he arrived in Amsterdam. There was a parade through the whole city, which happened to go right by our building. We got back from church just in time to climb up to the third floor and snap some pics:

One of the things that’s a little different about this tradition: instead of elves, Sinterklaas is helped by Zwaarte Pieten, or “black Petes.” (You can see them in the pictures above). And yes, they are black! Becka and I thought this was absolutely scandalous (can you imagine if Santa had little black helpers!), but the politically correct explanation these days is that Black Pete is black from the chimney soot (although it seems the tradition originally did have a connection to slavery-which is why there are still demonstrations and protests). I like this line from the Wikipedia page on Zwarte Piet: “Foreign tourists, particularly Americans, are often bewildered and mortified.”

The scandal of Zwaarte Pete aside, it’s a very festive time in the Netherlands. Holiday decorations are up throughout the city, and it’s beginning to feel a lot like Sinterklaas.