Reasons to Believe: Celebrating Sinterklaas in Nigeria

What are memories made of?

Fragments of colored glass, perfect for life’s grand mosaic

Pieces of patterned cloth for the patchwork quilt of our earth journeys

And thick threads, for the tapestries we weave of the world

In it, on the mosaics, atop the quilts and woven into the tapestries,

Are people, loved and not,

Faces – gorgeous, beautiful, scarred and tanned

And names, full of meaning and wisdom, in places far and yet undiscovered

 

Memories are nuggets of warmth on a cold day

A lazy stroll through the dusky lanes of our minds and hearts

I want all my memories to be happy

Joyful, truly worthy to be called remembrances and forget-me-nots

My memories of Sinterklaas span three decades

They stretch back to a time when I was only waist-high tall

And when we lived in a world that was easy

And gilded with the lilies of youth

A time when Sinterklaas was to my sisters and I his translated English name ‘Saint Nicholas’

And when we called his helpers, colorfully clad with faces the colour of tar, Black Peters

 

 

The streets and avenues of my mind are strewn with peppernoten, kruidnoten

And pastel-colored candy, hard sweets the pattern of red and white Christmas candy canes

And the warming spices of autumn and fall – cinnamon, ginger, cloves

Scents that awaken thoughts in my head

I am a part of all I’ve met

Grateful to be a part of all I’ve met

My friendships, conversations, handshakes

And three kisses, cheek to cheek to cheek

 

I am no longer the ‘me’ I was

The ‘me’ of twenty seven years ago

I am a ‘me’ who celebrates The 4th of July and American Thanksgiving;

Attends Canadian Independence Barbeques

And cries on Nigeria’s Independence Day

My world has been lit by ‘Diwali’ and Scandinavian Santa Lucia

Wearing Orange in spring is part of my Dutch heritage, as an honorary citizen

 

Sinterklaas this year will be no secret poems

No exchange of gifts wrapped in Hessian sacks

Sinterklaas this year will be heads and hearts

Chock full of memories past

This year, there will be apple cake

Sinterklaas’s White horse likes apples

There will be store-bought Speculaas

And glasses of (warm) milk

There will be many Sinterklaas songs

And even a book

And by some fortuitous spirit

There will be a handful of authentic bakers Kruidnoten

Ferried by an angel called a colleague

Fresh from The Hague

 

 

And just as giving thanks on Thanksgiving Day felt natural

So does celebrating Saint Nicholas feel

On the 5th of December, at home in Nigeria

 

Memories of the recent past

Intact

Hand in heart

 

Happy Sinterklaas

To our Dutch ‘family’ – real and adopted

Across the oceans

 

We love you!

 Sinterklaas related Posts

• Really celebrating Sinterklaas
• Sinterklaas comes to town
• A great Dutch Tradition

Sinterklaas Factfile

Sinterklaas is a Dutch tradition that has been celebrated for at least 350 years, testimony is given by the ‘The Feast of Saint Nicholas’, a painting by the Dutch Master, Jan Steen in 1665. This painting is one of his best and happiest and depicts a family celebrating the feast of Saint Nicholas.

It captures all the tales about Sinterklaas – the communal nature, the gifts or lack of for both good and not-so-good children

What strikes me is the basket of goodies full of biscuits and bread and what looks like a large speculaas cookie.