Seeing is believing

We believe in Santa Claus in our house.

Who doesn't love the idea of a magical man flying through the night bringing gifts? I think there is something wonderful about keeping magic alive for as long as possible. The world can be so grey without it. Even my nine year old, who can spew facts on a variety of random subjects and is so reality based that non-fiction books are better than candy, loves the magic of Santa. But our magical world was threatened this weekend when Sinterklaas came to town.

We happened to be in Amsterdam the weekend that Sinterklaas, the Dutch St. Nicholas, rode into town on his white horse. According to my daughter, this Sinterklaas must be the father of Santa. And in fact he is. The origins of the American Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch settlers, who brought stories of Sinterklaas and his magic.

I was worried that the similarity of the two men, the long white beard, the red clothes, the gift bringing, would cause my children to wonder about the validity of our own Santa Claus. But I had not need to fear, the love of magic is much stronger than that.

The event itself was pretty magical. A long parade of costumed characters with blackened faces, wearing curly black wigs and colorful clothes filled the streets. These Zwarte Piets or Black Peters danced around the streets handing out candy and spiced cookies. Everywhere kids were calling out to Piet to give them candy and to take their wishes to Sinterklaas.

Our plans of going to Amsterdam luckily coincided with this event. Otherwise, our goal with the trip was to show this beautiful city to the kids, see a few Rembrants at the National museum, go to the Anne Frank house, and visit a very dear friend and her family.

We amazingly did it all, and more, and the kids enthusiastically walked for miles and miles in this most beautiful city that is so very easy to lose oneself in.

I love Amsterdam every time I visit it. I could probably walk around the same block five or six times and not really realize it, since I am never looking in the same place. The houses are narrow and crooked and seem to be about to fall into a canal any moment. It is cozy and dynamic at the same time. And seems to be the most tolerant place on earth.

It was a good weekend for our family, and magical at that.

Halloween without trick-or-treating, really?

Halloween without candy is like sausage without sauerkraut, or something like that. In other words, according to most children, essential. Well this year we did it. We had no trick-or-treating, no begging for candy, no screaming children at our door demanding more, more, MORE.

It was quiet, peaceful even. And we still had fun.

Apparently Halloween was quite the controversy in our little international school this year. Traditionally the school was American based. As in, established during the occupation of Germany by the allied forces after WWII.

Being American, all traditions American were observed at the school, including Halloween.

This tradition continued even after the wall came down, the government moved from Bonn in West Germany to Berlin, and the occupied forces were no longer necessary. The American school became "International" and the "American compound" (located just across the street from the school), which housed thousands of American troops and civilians in the 1950s, began to fill with UN employees, other foreigners living in transition in Bonn and a few Germans.

The school however retained its traditions. Halloween stuck. Kids had parties in their classrooms and went trick-or-treating at the American compound.

So how did Halloween become controversial? Why take away the parties? Why ban trick-or-trunking? (a fun idea where parents would decorate their cars and hand out candy from the trunks, so no houses would be disturbed with crazy American kids ringing doorbells dressed as vampires and Hannah Montana). Was this a conspiracy to assert Internationalism over Americanism?

Actually nothing so sinister was in play, though I did hear the rumors. But the powers that be questioned why Halloween was still given precedence over Divali or Eid. Or the Czeck St. Wenceslas day or the Swedish St. Lucia for that matter. The possibilities are endless when there are 60 different countries and their holidays to choose from.

Instead the school came up with the crazy idea of focussing on local holidays instead. The German holiday celebrating St. Martin is a lovely tradition that takes place during the first weeks of November, just after Halloween. Kids may even get some candy, or at least a little man made of bread smoking a pipe called a weckerman.

The St. Martin holiday celebrates Martin, the Roman soldier who shared his coat with a beggar who was freezing in a snow storm thus saving his life. Children carry lanterns and sing songs in a parade around local neighborhoods. The parade is usually led by St. Martin on a horse and ends at a huge bonfire. Kids are given treats, parents are treated to warm spiced wine and the day ends with tired, happy families, sans copious amounts of candy.

Of course being American we did it all. Not only did we participate in the beautiful lantern walk for St. Martin, we also celebrated Halloween with the Girl and Boy Scout troops - costumes and all. We also honored our heritage with pumpkin carving and our very own haunted basement with our Swedish cousins who were visiting.

The kids may not have gone trick-or-treating this year, but they did not miss the candy one bit!