Text 24322, 75 rader
Skriven 2008-12-01 12:12:10 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Attitudes
=================
Hello Bob,

On Monday December 01 2008 10:35, you wrote to me:

 MV>>>> What is my opinion about thanksgiving?

 RB>>> Probably you have none, since Thanksgiving is a typically
 RB>>> American celebration. There is no equivalent anywhere else.

 MV>> I did not have one until this morning, but thanks to Ross, I *now*
 MV>> have one:

 MV>> An over-rated US Holiday followed up by hyper-capitalism and
 MV>> madness the next day.

 RB> It wasn't always like that, Michiel.

You have obviously missed something. Freedom of speech also means the freedom
to *not* express an opinion on something or even have one. But Ross insisted
that I have an opinion on everything and so I asked him what my opinion on
Thanksgiving is and that is what he came up with...

 RB> Don't kid yourself, by the way... even in Germany, these things are
 RB> getting out of hand. Halloween parties and Christmas candy in October
 RB> are nothing new here. I long for the good old days too - but they're
 RB> gone forever.

Halloween is coming here too. A couple of weeks ago I got some kids at my doors
that sang and begged for candy. For the first time in my life! Rosa tods me
that in Amsterdam this has been going for a couple of years. I thought it was
cute.. ;-)

As for thanksgiving, that is not likely to penetrate in another generation or
so, as we have a strong tradition for celebrating the birthday of Sinterklaas
on the evening of dec 5th. "Sinterklaas" sounds a bit like "Santa Claus", and
the roots of the fairy tale are probably the same. Sinterklaas however lives in
Spain and arrives in The Netherlands in the second part of November by steam
boat.

http://static.flickr.com/99/300796405_c5484bdf23.jpg

This ia a big happening, covered by national TV. Then later in the day,
SinterKlaas arrives in the small villages on his white horse.

http://static.flickr.com/113/306410375_c2af9da316.jpg

As long as Sinterklaas is around, children may place their shoes near the stove
when they go to bed and then in the night Sinterklaas' aide, "Zwarte Piet" will
come down the chimney and put some candy or some other small presens in the
shoes.

Sinterklaas' birthday is on December 6th, but the big festivity is on the eve
of the 5th. If the kids are lucky Sinterklaas will come visit in person to
bring the presents. If he is to busy, Zware Piet will come and drop the
presents at the front door, with al lot of noise.

I played the role of "Sinterklaas" several times. ;-)

There is lot more tradition around it, but this is the main story. As I said it
is a very strong tradition that will probably be around for some time to come.
And as the time frame conflicts with Halloween, the latter is not likely to
penetrate real soon.

As for the getting out of had, yes there is that too here, but to a lesser
extent. Christmas candy in october is unheard of, but that again has to do with
Sinterklaas. Tradition has it that Santa Claus and Sinterklaas should not be
seen together. Sinterklaas leaves on dec 6th by steam boat. The hour after he
leaves the Xmas trees start to appear....



Cheers, Michiel

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