December 5--Sinterklaas, Part Three

The best part of the Dutch holidays is that they get THREE Christmas-type days.

First, they have Sinterklaas on the 5th.

Then they have Kerst (Christmas) on the 25th.  This is not such a big thing as it is in the US, although it is getting bigger, but they do have all kinds of newspaper advertisements centered around it in the papers, as well as different kinds of wrapping papers and other holiday paraphernalia, although I gather that most of the stuff just goes up in the middle of November and then serves for both holidays.  The funny thing, though, is that for Kerst, they have the regular, old, familiar Santa Claus, with a floppy hat and flying reindeer (or, at least, that is how they decorate their Christmas advertisements).

Then, to top it all off, the Dutch have Tweede Kerst--"Second Christmas"--on the 26th.  This is equivalent of Boxing Day in Canada or England.  Lars, my Dutch informant, said that you don't get presents on Second Christmas, it is mostly just a day to see family that you didn't see on First Christmas and you usually have another big traditional meal.  I think that I could live with that--it sounds like an excellent plan, and also a good way to work out holiday sharing with the in-laws.  The 26th is also gaining a reputation as being a big shopping day, too, kind of like a Black Friday thing, although on a smaller scale, which makes it seem a little less family centered, and probably makes it harder to make another giant meal.

Next year, we should start doing multiple Christmases.  When you think about it, just about every other former English colony ended up with Boxing Day, which is almost as good as a Second Christmas.  If you do Hanukkah, you get 8 days.  If you do Kwanzaa, you get 7 days.  If you are from Ye Olde Englande, you get 12 days.  And here we are, stuck with one measly Christmas and then a day standing in the customer service lines to return stuff.  I think that it is time to change this.

I would like to point out that the U.S. Consulate in the Netherlands has figured out a pretty good way to do these kinds of things--they just celebrate the national holidays of both the U.S. and the Netherlands.  It just seems friendly to take the day off when other people are having a fun celebration.  (You can see the calendar of official U.S. and Dutch holidays here.)  We could extend it a little, too.  If you go here, you will see the Wikipedia list of all kinds of countries and then pick fun holidays to share.  (I thought we could start with countries with which we have a connection--Germany was disappointing and doesn't do any extra fun stuff.  Ireland just takes off the first day of June and the first day of August, for no apparent reason.  The National Day of Sweden on June 6th (we could eat lefse and argue about whether herring is actually edible).   I think this is a pretty good plan.

I vote that next year we do Sinterklaas and Tweede Kerst, at least.  It will be like I am an ambassador for  celebratory multiculturalism and diversity.  I am also perfectly willing to compromise and switch to 12 days of Christmas, instead.