The fifth of December was a special day in Oulu since Sinterklaas took an extra round on his traditional trip from Spain to the Netherlands to visit also Finnish-Dutch families living in Oulu, only a few hundred kilometres south of the polar circle.

„Dag Sinterklaasje, da-ag, da-ag. Da-ag, da-ag Zwarte Piet. Dag Sinteklaasje, da-ag, da-ag. Luister naar ons welkomstlied!“

The eyes of the kids are blinking with anticipation. Outside the room we hear heavy steps on the stairway. They come closer and closer. Then there is silence. “We have to continue singing”, whispers Sandra van der Veen, the contact person of the Finnish-Dutch Society. “Otherwise Sinterklaas does not know where we are!” The kids and their parents start singing the welcome song for Sinterklaas again. Then, the door opens and the two black Piet, Sinterklaas’helpers, enter the room carrying heavy sacks full of presents. They have colourful clothes on and wear big turbans. Then Sinterklaas himself comes in with his huge red coat and long white beard.

“Huh, it was a long, long way from Spain to here”, says Sinterklaas with his deep voice. “And also exhausting because the presents are so heavy”, adds one of the Piets, then takes a big grip in one of the sacks and throws sweets into the room. The children jump up yelling and try to catch as much as possible.
But then comes the moment all kids were waiting for: Sinterklaas distributes the presents! He calls one kid after another to come and talk with him. “Have you been nice all year? Or have you been naughty?” Some of the small kids are a bit afraid and have to be encouraged by their parents many times until they dare to go and talk with Sinterklaas.

After giving the presents, also Sinterklaas and the Piets get their presents in form of stories presented in Dutch and Finnish, lots of songs and present cards. The rest of the evening goes by with playing, eating and chatting.

“The Sinterklaas party is a good opportunity for us to get together once a while apart from our traditional barbeque party in summer and occasional playing evenings.” explains Marina Nijhuis, who is secretary of the Finnish-Dutch Society.
“Otherwise we only meet in the traditional barbeque party in summer and occasionally for play evenings.” The society has around 200 members of which only one quarter lives in Northern Finland.

Who is Sinterklaas, actually?

Sinterklaas is the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was a bishop who lived in Anatolia which is now called Turkey. He was born in the in 271 AD and died in the year 343 AD.

According to the legend he saved his town from starvation. He was fond of children and rescued many kid’s lives. Additionally, three sailors swore that St. Nicholas had saved them as well by calming a very rough sea and saving them from drowning. With the sailor’s legends, the belief in St. Nicholas spread all over Europe.

Nicholas' Feast Day, December 6th, is observed in most countries primarily as a feast for small children during which they get presents in form of sweets put into their shoes.  

However, especially in the Netherlands the eve of his feast day (December 5th) is celebrated nationwide. “It is always in the news when Sinterklaas has started his journey approaching the country”, explains Sandra. For many Dutch, the Sinterklaas party is even a bigger event than Christmas.
By the way, in Holland people traditionally believe that Sinterklaas – or St. Nicholas - comes from Spain. Possibly that’s because the Dutch history of trade which has brought and close contacts with Spanish sailors. The Spanish sailors believed in St. Nicholas as their guardian Saint.

Further information:

The Finnish-Dutch Society: http://www.nederlandsevereniging.fi/

More information on Sinterklaas: http://www.thehollandring.com/sinterklaas.shtml