This weekend, something special happened. Sinterklaas came to town. While he looks a lot like our white-bearded friend, Santa Claus, Sinterklaas made notably better arrangements for himself. Instead of living in the chilly North Pole, Sinterklaas lives in the South of Spain. While Santa flies in from the North Pole through the freezing skies on his sleigh, Sinterklaas takes a relaxing cruise in from the South of Spain. And while Santa Clause has to squeeze his chubby buns down all those chimneys by himself, Sinterklaas has a crew of (controversial) helpers named "Zwarte Pieten", or "Black Petes", to do that for him.
Sunday morning we walked down to Dam Square where thousands of people gathered to welcome Sinterklaas to town. There was a big parade (he rode in on his white horse Amerigo), dancing, singing, candy and cookies being thrown out into the crowd. It was an absolutely crazy experience that can only be somewhat explained through photographic evidence, which, of course, I have for all of you. Oh, and most importantly, I think this means I can officially start listening to the Christmas tunes! Wahoo!
{Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}
