Dutch
stores increasingly
promote their own
Sinterklaas events
NEW WESTMINSTER,
British Columbia -
Children in the
Netherlands every year
lustily sing "Zie ginds
komt de stoomboot uit
Spanje weer aan..." (See
there the steamship from
Spain is coming agan...) At the Westminster Quay
Public Market, their
Dutch Canadian cousins
actually see the boat
moor at the Quay, where
Sinterklaas and his
party of Black Pieters
step ashore. The early
December public welcome
is the only remaining
event in North America,
which has Sinterklaas
arrive aboard a real
ship.
Among the Sinterklaas Welkom onlookers now are
parents who in 1985 as
children were present
for the first arrival.
The event remains a top
attraction for the
public market on the
Fraser River bank.
Right from the start 19
years ago, local
officials, MPs, MLAs,
the Mayor and sometimes
all councilors (and even
a Premier), have been on
hand to welcome the
Spanish bishop.
In
particular councillor Casey
Cook, who fondly
remembers Sinterklaas
calling on his hometown
The Hague when he was a
boy, has been there as a
dignitary for years. One
year he remarked that
none in the crowd of
onlookers seemed more
excited than the
grandparents.
Dutch 'stores'
Sinterklaas celebrations
also rated very high on
the list of traditions
taken along to the New
World by colonial Dutch
settlers and immigrants.
The benevolent bishop
was revered as much by
the 18th century Dutch
colonial community in
New York as he is among
today's Dutch
immigrants, a fact which
contributes as well to
the ongoing popularity
of many imported items
ranging from pepernoten
to chocolate letters.
The wide-spread
popularity in the
Netherlands of the
December 5 Sinterklaas
event in the years since
the bleak World War II,
also has influenced the
way Dutch immigrants in
North America observe
and celebrate it.
New
arrivals from the
Netherlands often lament
they miss their homeland
the most during the
Sinterklaas season which
in the Netherlands
starts midway November.
In North America, Dutch
delicatessen outlets now
are the greatest
boosters of
Sinterklaas
events. Many stores put
on special activities
for children. Ottawa
area Dutch
Groceries &
Imports started the
store's annual event in
1968 while New Westminster's Holland
Shopping Centre joined
the Westminster Quay
Sinterklaas Welkom event
when it was first
launched. The store's
owners since then
largely have taken on
the responsibility for
organizing it, pressing
into service up to
twelve Black Peters some
years. A colouring
contest receives good
participation. 
Places such as
Michigan's Holland,
Washington's Lynden,
Iowa's Pella, and Orange
City have turned
Sinterklaas into a
town-wide event, which
in some locations
includes a parade.
First published in
The Windmill Herald,
used with permission. |