The War On Christmas

No, not the rather tiresome complaints by cultural conservatives in the US complaining about the secularisation of Christmas, or indeed the Archbishop of York complaining about the systematic erosion of Christianity from public life.

 

Nope, here in The Netherlands we have our own particular war on Christmas. To be exact, it’s a war between two versions of St. Nicholas. Ladies and gennelmen, I give you, in the red corner: Sinterklaas; and in the other red corner, the non-Dutch challenger: Santa Claus.

 

Sinterklaas is celebrated on the 5th December. But recent years have seen a blurring with the non-traditional usurper figure of Santa Claus. This year, the town of Noordwijk, instead of holding a traditional parade of Sinterklaas with his retinue of Zwarte Pieten (Black Peters), had a parade with Santa Claus. Cue 1,400 protest mails, and the disapproval of the Vereniging tot Behoud van Sinterklaas (the Association for the Preservation of Sinterklaas).

 

Actually, I have a sneaking support for Sinterklaas over Santa Claus. It is something unique to The Netherlands and Belgium, and it will be a pity to see it being pushed aside by something that is just the same as everywhere else. That’s just boring. And I admit I take a gleeful pleasure in the political incorrectness of the Zwarte Pieten.