In reply to:

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Maybe you can explain a bit more about the Christmas traditions.

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I'll have a try...
The Sinterklaas thing you were describing, blue, is not celebrated at Christmas time here, but on the evening of the 5th of December. (Makes perfect sense though that you celebrated it at Christmas.) In the Netherlands we don't celebrate Christmas the way it's done in lots of other countries including the USA and Canada. No Santa or presents for us. It's still very much considered a religious event, though more and more families start giving eachother gifts at Christmas instead of Sinterklaas.

I've been told that the word Santa Claus actually comes from our Sinterklaas and in fact they do have a lot in common. Our Sinterklaas looks like this:

and he lives in Spain. Every November he gets in his boat, called "Pakjesboot" (gift boat), and travels all the way to the Netherlands, where his arrival is shown on tv (every year another town is chosen to be the official arrival town) in a three or four hour show. It's very well done and I still watch it every year! When Sinterklaas is here, he resides in a children's farm in my home town and all letters kids write him are really sent there. Just addressing to "Sinterklaas" does the trick. You even receive an answer!

From the moment Sinterklaas has entered the country - usually 2 or 3 weeks before December 5th - you can put your shoe near the fireplace before you go to bed (not necessarily a wooden shoe) and during the night Sinterklaas will ride his horse over the roofs and send his Black Peters down the chimneys to put a little toy or some candy in every shoe. (Actually, that's why the Peters are black: the soot.) A lot of children put carrots in their shoes for the horse.
Of course in reality the presents are put in the shoes by the parents, and if they feel their kids have put their shoes at the fire place too often, they'll write a letter (with their left hand if they're right-handed) to tell them not to be too greedy (and sign "Black Peter") and put that in the shoes instead of the presents. The letter is obviously covered with soot, because Black Peter had to carry it down the chimney!
In the morning you wake up at the crack of dawn and hurry to see what's in your shoe. If there's a present, you sit in front of the chimney and sing a thank you song for Sinterklaas.

It's also possible that the Black Peters come to throw sweets to be scrambled for. At my house this was done by my father's secretary, wearing a white glove. We would here someone thumping the door and we would get all excited. Few seconds later we'd see a hand coming through the door opening throwing candy. Of course we wanted to run to Black Peter immediately and we were always stopped by my mum, to prevent us from recognising the secretary. Weeks later we'd still find some sweets behind closets, under the couch, etc.

Then, at the big night of December 5th, we would sit in the living room and wait for the doorbell to ring. What a coincidence my dad was never around at the moment supreme... When it finally rang, their would be either baskets full of presents or a note with a hint on the porch. The note was usually there when it was raining and the presents would be somewhere dry.

Sinterklaas leaves the country on December 6th, without further ado.

The song you remember, blue, is called "Sinterklaas kapoentje" (judging by your spelling, you still know how to pronounce it correct! ) and it's one of the many songs we sing to get in the mood.

Most children stop believing in Sinterklaas' existance before they're 12 years old, but people still celebrate it when they're grown ups. Just with less presents. It usually ends up being like this: everybody has to make a surprise present for someone else (picked by fortune) and a rhyme to go with it.

The shops would much rather see us all spending tons of money and buying lots of presents and they realise that's not gonna happen at Sinterklaas. So they've started to promote Christmas instead. And as I mentioned before, more and more people are indeed starting to celebrate Christmas instead of Sinterklaas. But I'll always celebrate Sinterklaas, because I love it!

So much for me explaning a bit more...

As I experienced my first Saint Nicolas festivities in a small Alsatian villages, with him coming through the neighborhood and candles all the way to the center of town where the kids were given gingerbread figures of the Saint with his picture on them...I was wondering if you also have the gingerbread figures...they're really good!
We also have the "Pere fouettard" figure, usually played by someone who is mischievious, dressed in black, who occasionally picks up a kid and takes them away for a while with them screaming!
These traditions are only held in the very northern formerly German parts of France.
Alsatian children are lucky as they get Santa claus or Pere Noel, Saint Nicolaus and then the religious festivities and nativity scenes.
They do this in the public schools and no one complains, trust me!
My kids learned Alsatian songs at this time.

We don't have the ginger bread figures. I think I know what you mean though and I think they're German. I've seen them on German Christmas markets and I agree, they are great!

What we have instead is something we call "speculaas" and my dictionary translates it as "kind of sweet, spicy biscuit" (it's not such a good dictionary ). It comes in different figures and it tastes a little like gingerbread, but less soft.

Our Black Peter takes children away also! If you haven't been nice he puts you in his bag and takes you with him to Spain...

I think it's nice how different countries share the same traditions but still celebrate it their own way!

Those are great too, they sell them here in France with the Dutch name, or speculoos. It looks very odd to Americans though.
They are often served with strong coffee in some fairly exclusive cafés.

How come the Dutch make such great mints? They take your heads off!

Are the apples good in Holland? We always hear about Dutch apple this and that in the States, I'm wondering if you do use many apples.
Then there are those Droste things...mmm. I'm hungry and it's just 11.
Speculoos have the taste of a ginger snap for Americans I think.
Or those Swedish things called pfefferknaffe or something I've just totally botched up...

I don't know any Swedish, but it sounds convincing! The Dutch word for ginger bread is "peperkoek" and since pfeffer and peper probably mean the same... I mean, speculaas does taste a little like ginger bread... Okay, I've totally lost myself, so I won't be offended when you'll say it doesn't make sense at all!

We do have all kinds of apples in the supermarkets, but I have no idea if they're grown here or if they're import...

You're making me hungry as well, and I just finished my breakfast (a little late for breakfast, I know )! Droste also makes the letters of chocolate that we get at Sinterklaas. Everybody gets the first letter of their name in chocolate. Delicious!!!

Coolupway,

I was excessively amused at your reference to Americans and Canadians.

I think it's interesting to see and hear how different countries view the peoples and cultures of other nations.

We get whole caravans of Americans coming through our town every summer and late into the Fall as we live only a few kilometers from Peggy's Cove (a world-famous lighthouse). I have a real high regard for Americans and am proud of the friendly attitude of most Canadians toward our American neighbours.

My sister and I did have one amusing incident in the state of Florida while on holiday. Some uniformed tour guide at Disney World asked where we we from. We replied that we were travelling from Nova Scotia. Well, when Nova Scotia drew a complete blank, we then told him that we were from Canada. Well, at least that rang a bell. Oh , yeah, he said. You Canadians are the people that ride in dog sleds. We thought he was kidding. But he was dead serious! Anyway, my sister, being much quicker than I told him "Yes, we ride dogsleds. But as I only have a learners permit, I'm only allowed to drive puppies!

Thank you so much for your detailed reply to my question about Christmas (even though it's before Christmas, as you pointed out). When I attended this event with my babysitter and her children, I was aged 5. Now I am aged 50, so my memories of the event are a bit foggy. Reading your post brought the event back much clearer for me! I am quite sure that it WAS earlier in December, just as you say. I can't remember what conveyance Sinterklaas arrived in at the event, but I think it was a carriage with white horses. I remember Black Peter throwing the candies and scrambling for them. I, too, remember the spicy little cookies, something like gingerbread. I'm sure Mrs. Bennik (my babsitter) explained all this for me at the time, but as I say, I was only 5! Thanks for the information!

All I know about the Netherlands is that I just adore Valkenberg in December. We will be making our third visit this year, on the 7th, and it is the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit. Valkenberg holds its Christmas markets in caves, lit and decorated, with stalls selling all kinds of tacky Christmas goodies - but it doesn't matter at all because the atmosphere is wonderful. (Perhaps that's not fair - the chocolates they sell are fantastic). And when you reach the end of the large cave there is a bar so you can rest, drink a couple of gluweins and listen to the Christmas music being played from the DJ guy sitting on a ledge halfway up the wall. The yougsters that serve you are so happy and pleasant - it really is what sets me up for the festive season. I can't wait!!

Some years back I was in the waiting room of a nearby hospital-- my son had just been circumcised(!)-- when I noticed a blond fellow poring over a coffee-table type book on Vermeer. I struck up a chat with him and it developed he was a Dutch expat who was living stateside. I don't remember his name, but I do remember two rather cynical and self-deprecating things that this very nice fellow told me about his native land... first, that Prince Bernhard (father of Queen Beatrix) was "a dopey" and second, that the Dutch were extremely good at making beer and, perhaps more notably, erm... money.

I sorta liked it that the guy saw his countrymen, the notoriously industrious Dutch, as somehow comical.

I have just now finished an interesting little volume called "My 'Dam Life", by a fellow named Sean Condon, who got to observe the idiosyncrasies of the Dutch for 3-odd years after moving from his native Oz to Amsterdam. And here is a book which concerns itself, at least in part, with what can only be described as Extremely Comical Stuff About The Dutch. It is quite simply one of the funniest books I've ever read.

Thanks to Mr. Condon I have now learned that the Dutch are given to muttering strange, Delphic proverbs; that their country is subject to periodic subervsion by the insidious BELGIAN FIREWORKS INDUSTRY; that their beloved Sinterklaas may in some obscure way be argued to be a perpetuator of institutional holiday racism; that the Dutch are mad about, or at least plagued by bureaucracy, including an extremely risible Amsterdam Woningdienst , or Housing Authority; and that they are wont to drive cars into canals and are every bit as beset by bicycles and bicyclists as are their Belgian neighbours. In that regard it should be noted that while The Netherlands does not have a city named "Oostende" at its western tip, it makes up for this (or tries to) by having streets named, for no apparent reason, after great American jazz musicians, including (or so the author claims) a Count Basiestraat. (Leau, can you help us here?)

The book is also very good in that even though the author hails from an island continent where people speak incomprehensibly, he doesn't fill his paragraphs up with a lot of stuff about "blokes" who have "Barneys" or "blues" or get "shirty" or "squiffy" or "stuck into each other", which would just be confusing to Americans. Encouragingly, none of the people in the book are named "Trev", "Bruce", "Wally" or "Noelene", and while there is one "Sally", she turns out not to be a Kiwi after all, and as such we are spared the inevitable "fush-n-chups" jokes. There are also, astonishingly enough, no jokes about a man named Wim Kok, who believe it or not was the Dutch PM for quite a few years there. (Can you imagine the RESTRAINT???)

Anyone with even a remote interest in the most historically prominent of the Low Countries*, or for that matter an interest in just laughing a certain part of their anatomy off, should get hold of Condon's book quickly.

*Sorry, Flem-ish

For a good view of what is physically "prominent" in the Netherlands you might try:
http://home.planet.nl/~veenhh/borderland/nederland/pa-extremes.htm
For clichés on the character of the people "Xenophobe's" guide to the Dutch" (info@ovalbooks.com) offers all you need.

For real quality information on what is culturally prominent
in the area the "yearbooks" of " The Low Countries. Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands" will surprise you.
(erfdeel@pophost.eunet.be)

And as to why the Netherlands rose to such prominence...well
just take into account that most of the culturally important Dutch towns got a serious influx of Flemings in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. South-Holland's famous University town of Leiden counted 67% Flemings out of a population of 45.OOO inhabitants. Delft, Gouda, Den Haag had large numbers of "Flemish" immigrants too. Mostly the intellectuals (Simon Stevin), the money-makers, and..the religiously fanatic (Gommarus).
Not surprising that such a boost must have given them at least "some" prominence.

This is a 30 year old memory, but not faded at all. I had a good friend in school from Amsterdam whose family were here for a while. Because of this, my family took us both to Amsterdam for a week, and it was a great holiday, which included driving between Amsterdam and the Hague areas. The main claim to fame was at the time there was a TV series about a Dutch detective, Van der Valk, filmed in a real police station in Amsterdam by English actors. My father parked on a naughty spot (not understanding the sign, of course) and was given a ticket. The police station we took it to was the actual one used to film Van der Valk, and though they said he didn't have to pay it as he had a good excuse, he did just to keep the ticket as a record. And I still remember the main room there, it was just the same as on TV. I do hope to return eventually, as there was far more I'd like to see and do.

Bravo Coolupway for managing to ridicule both the Dutch and Australians in one fell swoop. Rest assured as a dutch-australian i take no offence whatsoever.