Celebrating Sint Maarten

So while all of you Americans were celebrating Veteran's Day today, we here in the Netherlands were celebrating Sint Maarten--or for all of you English speakers, Saint Martin. Basically, Sint Maarten is a holiday for the kids that is relatively similar to Halloween, minus the costumes. When darkness falls, at about six o'clock, the fun begins. The children carry lanterns (that they have made) from house to house, ring the doorbell, sing a Sint Maarten song, and in turn, get a snoupje*.
*Snoupje is the dutch word for sweet or candy. It is pronounce like snoop-ya.

If you'd like, feel free to read about the history of Sint Maarten here.

I must say that, although I am a big huge fan of Halloween, I also really like Sint Maarten. I want my kids (years and years into the future) to celebrate it! It is adorable to see the little kids come to your door and sing to you--even if it is in Dutch and you have no idea what is being said! And it is just as entertaining when the 12-year-olds come to your door and have to sing for candy! I couldn't help but to imagine Payton, my nephew, singing Sint Maarten songs when those kids came around.

And now that Sint Maarten's has come to an end, it only means one thing: Sinterklaas is on the way!

...That's right. Not Santa Clause, but Sinterklass. You know... The Sinterklaas that rides a white horse and comes on the 5th of December on his boat from Spain... Yeah, the one who is accompanied by his dark-skinned helpers, Zwarte Pieten (or also known as Black Petes)...

You can read more about Sinterklass here.

...And then after Sinterklaas comes Santa Claus!