The days are drawing in and the mornings are becoming colder. In many places around the world kids are getting ready for a visit from the big man, Santa Claus. But Dutch kids don’t have to wait as long as others, instead of having to wait for Santa on the night of the 24th, Sinterklaas comes on the 5th and puts some presents in your shoes. When I told my nephew about this, he felt bad for the Dutch kids as they can only have tiny presents which fit into shoes, but I put his mind at rest by telling him that Dutch people are the tallest in the world so their shoes are a bit bigger than ours (still, perhaps not big enough for an Xbox though).

There are so many lovely things about the Sinterklaas tradition, I particularly enjoy all the chocolate, sweets and the poem. However, I would argue that, the most striking thing to a foreigner in the Netherland is the character of Zwarte Piet. I know this is an issue that receives a lot of media attention in the Netherlands and it is something that Dutch people feel very strongly about, and that opinions on the matter can vary widely. With even the UN discussing it. Of course, I am not Dutch and didn’t grow up here so I am only talking as an outsider. Also, I fully accept that my own country has, shall we say, a rather chequered history in basically every way.

I read that RTL, a Dutch broadcaster, has went with the soot covered Piet rather than the full black make-up. Surely, if like people claim, Piet is black because he went down a chimney then this is more in keeping with the story. Apparently, this has caused uproar amongst certain people. We often have these types of discussions in the UK, with some claiming that certain decisions are “political correctness gone mad”. But this is, in my opinion, not the best argument. Sinterklaas is, I believe, about spending time with family, kids having fun and the exchanging of presents. How much would these traditions really be changed if Piet wasn’t painted black?

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