Dutch Culture - Sinterklaas!

[virework]

germany and hollands cultuur are almost simulair

[angiebeun]

can i ask you wy sinterklaas is your favorit.

i'm from belgium(country next to the neatherlands, and we talk the same language,

Sinterklaas isnt always on saturdag, sinterklaas is on 6 december

dutch: ik kan je zeggen dat ZWARTE PIETEN EN BAKJESAVOND leuk uitgesproken worde.

[snowyfreak]

@angiebeun het is pakjesavond en niet bakjesavond slimmeke

[gearhar1]

@angiebeun There is a difference between the lower lands ( Belgium) and The supreme Netherlands. Here it is on the 5th. Please, don't say bullshit.

[lunatheawesomee]

@angiebeun I'm from belgium and I'm just ashamed in your place. please learn to spell, thanks

[LovelyDaffodil]

Je hebt het leuk en duidelijk uitgelegd. Altijd lastig; mensen snappen niet goed waarom we Sinterklaas en de Kerstman hebben en wat het verschil is;-)

[Super0wnag3]

goed uitgelegd in het nederlands zeg thumbs up :)

[umaara100]

I hear what you are saying.I personally believe that Black Pete was originally intended to be a foem of the Dark helper like Krampus in Germany.I just dont want the issue to hurt the Kids

[dutchforn00bs]

@LocoLibreisI hey! What are you trying to say exactly? :)

[LocoLibreisI]

@dutchforn00bs I was trying to ask "are you a fan of Slythering and I love your accent".

I know my dutch is horrible but forgive I only been studying it for 3 weeks from this comment. also, I would love to see a video of you speaking dutch whit subtitles. it kind of forces me to learn and better than my dutch phrase book =- D

En bedankt voor het videos!

[dutchforn00bs]

@LocoLibreisI right:) that would be: "ben je een fan van Slytherin?", and we don't really use the Dutch for love (houden van) as much as love is used in English, so we'd probably say something like "ik vind je accent leuk" :)

[Napoleon501ste]

BTW sinterklaas = santa claus. They are the same person.

[goJonnySwift]

In English, the broom-like tool used to clean/sweep chimneys is actually called a "Chimney Sweep" and so is the is the person who does the does the cleaning. So, a Chimney Sweep (person) uses a chimney sweep (object) to sweep chimneys (verb).

[umaara100]

My sister,i am an African America who loves all the Santa Claus tradition around the world.In fact i dress up like Santa Claus myself every year.This past christmas i did a shopping mall.I am asking you and the Dutch people to please remove black pete for the sake of the celebration.Im hearing stories of celebrations being cancelled around the world.Saint Nicholas can survive without black peter.Peace

[Muhammedloveskids]

@umaara100 lets not change traditions, the aim was never to look like black people.

[lunatheawesomee]

@umaara100 of course SANTA can, he has elfs.

[snowyfreak]

het is grappig hoe die sinterklaas zegt

(its funny how you say sinterklaas)

[snowyfreak]

belgium and netherland dont got thanksgiving

sinterklaas is like thanksgiving

[odditsmash]

Dit is zo grappig als je Nederlands bent!

(This is so funny if you'r Dutch!)

[DaeleRyan]

@odditsmash Ja inderdaad :p

[believeindreams13]

At first I thought you were an American studying abroad in the Netherlands! You don't have a Dutch English accent at all! :D

[rangerQ1989]

Bite a G to a C, brilliant idea xD

[ToastAndTee]

Austria has Sinterklaas too, but we call it Nikolo :D

[Napoleon501ste]

@ToastAndTee That's logical since he isn't really called sinterklaas. His full name is sint nikolas (also in dutch, but kids say sinterklaas. Some songs still say sint nikolas)

[paula0907]

As long they don't throw dropjes at people I am ok! :) Aaaargh! Horrible taste these drops!

By the way, I've been told SinterKlaas lives in Spain because he could not survive on the dutch healthcare system, otherwise he would be dead already... LOL Well, actually, joke or not I unfortunately have to agree... :((

If I may suggest a video, I think it would be very interesting to hear about practical Dutch Culture, like intense use of bikes, the reason dutch plp do not eat warm at lunch, etc...

[rustydogz1]

So, to recap, Sinterklaas is a holiday about a Turkish bishop who arrives in the Netherlands on a boat via Spain; then he and his chimney sweep helpers distribute candy, sometimes by throwing it at people. Did I get that correct? Sounds like a holiday I would enjoy!

P.S. I look forward to your answers to the Youtube survey you were tagged in a few weeks ago. I am sure they will be very entertaining!

[dutchforn00bs]

@rustydogz1 Correct!

Also, I won't be doing that, sorry :)

[rustydogz1]

@dutchforn00bs Is refusing a tag allowed!?

Seriously though, since you hadn't answered the survey weeks ago, I didn't think you would. No worries.

Happy Sinterklaas!

[TrIpMo1981]

@ dutchforn00bs: You didn't know the English name for the twigs wrapped together to clean. It is called a Broom :)

Btw: I am Dutch guy. Lived there for 30 years. And now I live in Singapore. So my English is like....... very good :)

[Muhammedloveskids]

@rustydogz1 About right, but note that He was greek ( turks did not conquer anatolia back then)

[1972Slang]

If the true purpose of this videö was to make us jealous with candy. Then you have done a extremely well at it. All of your videös are really good.

[Nerdfighterlife]

I've decided the true purpose of this video is to make us jealous you have candy. :P 

[Nerdfighterlife]

So, if you don't do presents on Christmas, do you still do the family get together and dinner thing? :)

[TrIpMo1981]

@Nerdfighterlife Yes we do have dinner's on first and second Xmas day with the family

[MsHugeWickedFan]

So is Sinterklaas your Christmas? :-)

[dutchforn00bs]

@MsHugeWickedFan No, we just do trees & decoration for Christmas, not (traditionally) presents and stuff.

[TrIpMo1981]

@MsHugeWickedFan yes you could say that. All tho some Dutch people celebrate Sinterklaas and Xmas. Some only celebrate Xmas

[MrChanterpanter123]

@MsHugeWickedFan sinterklaas is not like Christmas in the netherlands on 5th december is sinterklaas and on 25th and 26th Christmas

[1972Slang]

Het ding dat u was omschrijven, het ding u weet niet het naam in Engel - het bezem zij gebruik te vegen schoorsteen met is roepen een (Chimney Brush in English)

[LucidCatnap]

Suggestion: Do a christmas special!

[TheMonikaLojas]

aldic letters, well not so bad. haha

[Teeuw1976]

Het echte Sinterklaas feest is in heel Nederland en heel Belgie, daar is het een aparte feestdag voor kerst. in andere landen wordt het vaak verward, of door elkaar gedaan. In Wallonia (Zuid Belgie) heten Sint en Piet: Saint Nicolas et Pere Fouettard :D.

[deeyoyo1]

@LosAnggraito actually, this is pretty much how "they" used to present zwarte pieten. One of the songs all Dutch kids learn and sing roughly translates to:

Kids who are "sweet" get candy, kids who are bad/noughty get (hit with (it's not in the song, but this is what is ment)) the "roe".

The roe is what the girl in the video talked about, the bunch of twigs wrapped together. I hope that makes sense. Maybe you could google it to get what I mean.

[LosAnggraito]

@deeyoyo1 Ooh! Thanks haha I knew I wasn't the only one scared of them. And yes I am familiar with the twigs wrapped together, my family calls it sapoe lidi

[ninoboeing]

Haha, sorry, maar dat zijn kruidnoten

[Bienanou]

België heeft het ook.

[dutchforn00bs]

@Bienanou oh, no! Did I forget to mention that? Sorry. 0:07.

[TheMasenko]

Sinterklaas => Sainter (Ni)K(o)laus => Santa Claus Yaaay :)

[LosAnggraito]

SINTERKLAAS! Haha I still remember my grandma teaching me sinterklaas kapoentje when I was little. And I was always afraid of zwarte pieten... oma told me they would put the naughty kids inside a sack and beat them with sapoe lidi :\ that's probably just a twist that my family added on though. lol

[BelgianSigma]

yeah I miss "Saint Nicolas" I am Belgian

[hadassah91]

Pepernoten and tea are a great combination for studying =)

[PprettyBlossoms]

Romania has it too :D It's not exactly the same, but we celebrate St. Nicholas with presents too :) Btw, thanks for the video. I am currently studying Nederlands and your videos are helping me!

Have a great day!

[nessieontherun]

sometimes i babysit three dutch children who have lived here in portugal for most of their lives. last year i happened to babysit for them during the 'shoe by the fireplace' ritual and it was the first time i ever heard about sinterklaas. these kids are absolutely lovely, but they don't speak much portuguese since they attend an english school (their parents ask me to speak only in pt with them) so their explanation was a bit confusing.

but now that i get it, i find it even more interesting! :)

[Iamthemaster2]

Were the chocolate letters any good or was the chocolate kinda cheap-tasting?

[dutchforn00bs]

@Iamthemaster2 they were from a really cheap store, so the chocolate wasn't great.. usually it's good chocolate, though :D

[razryadom]

:)

[razryadom]

:)

[firnantok]

Thank you for this little lesson. :)

[MedievalPancake]

ooh no! and now you have to eat all of the candy! that must really suck because it's pretty obvious that you don't like candy! just give me a message and i'll come help you >:D

[dutchforn00bs]

@MedievalPancake Please. Please do. I actually don't like candy that much. Have been giving away the chocolate already.. :D

[MedievalPancake]

@dutchforn00bs .... you're kidding me right? NO, i don't believe you :P if you're not kidding, I WILL ACCEPT ZE CANDY ANYTIMEZ!

[ACCESS2B]

I live in England but got the privilidge of tasting Sinterklaas candy this year. Still have some left but I somehow think it will be gone by December 5th. :D Enjoy the celebrations.

[fearlessfreak29]

Althoughim in chile right now lol i still celebrate the 5th of december, and my parents still celebrate it, although we dont have the sint. my mom used to makes us sing the songs, she did the chocolade letters and the poems :D

[Wolfseisenhut]

I'm from the USA, and I'm most of my family came from Germany along time ago. I've been celebrated 'St. Nicholas' Day' since I was a kid. However, My family celebrated it the German way and I was told "Black Peter" was more like the boogeyman, and my cousins and I behaved a lot more around this time of year because we didn't want to go with "Black Peter." It's nice to know that "Black Peter(s) weren't always so sinister.

[HKurck]

NOOOO! Je leert ze het verkeerd! Hoe kún je xD Het zijn kruidnoten...

[dutchforn00bs]

@HKurck NOOOOOO. I don't care. Sorry :D

[HKurck]

@dutchforn00bs Half Nederland snapt het verschil geloof ik niet xD

[mariannerrrd]

DUTGH :D

Poland has Sinterklaas too, but he's called Święty Mikołaj and that's the same person as Santa, so basically they just celebrate Santa's birthday, I think. Not sure. It's on the 6th of December, anyway, and the kids find their presents in their beds when they wake up and it's really cute. I got that when I stopped believing Sinterklaas could get into our house through CV-ketel/brievenbus to put stuff in my shoe. :D

[banihex]

sinterklaas arrives on white horse on a boat with a bunch of people in black face and big red lips :|

Some black people hate it because kids come up to them begging for candy around this time, or some kids are very scared of black people because of the implications of what they will do to you if you where bad that year.

google Zwarte Piet for ultimate lols.

[TheLongHolidays]

Hi, I removed my song as response. I meant no disrespect by it, and I do like your videos. They're very helpful for me.

[dutchforn00bs]

@TheLongHolidays Hey. I accepted your video response, because I feel like everyone is entitled to their own opinions (even if I don't agree with them), and I do think you're a good song writer. Feel free to resubmit it (if you want, of course). just because I don't agree doesn't mean other people won't like it :)

[karinefizzy]

in norway we also have the card game someone mentioned here in the comments. we call it svartepetter though :)

[LorrenFTW]

I feel bad for neglecting these videos for practically a whole year even when I loved watching them so much before, but man do I love how other countries/cultures celebrate Christmas/Decemberytimecelebra­tions. Sinterklaas sounds really interesting. The shoes by the fireplace seems so bizarre to me but... I don't know I'm kind of enchanted by the whole idea of the celebration. Also, I want some of that Dutch candy. It looks so gooood.

[FreestylerAlbert]

xD heh you have more fun then us ! :D srew it :D:D:D:D:D: (L)chocolate :d

[Hellbat308]

hooray! a new dutchforn00bs vid =)

hrhr zwarte piet. in germany it's called "schwarzer peter" and it is a card game.

unfortunately i didn't make it to come to the netherlands this year, even though i live next to the dutch border in the german ruhr area. but next year i will visit my favourite country again =)

I'm looking forward to your next vid

[P0dex]

Everyone calls those pepernoten, but they are actually kruidnoten.

[dutchforn00bs]

@P0dex God thing I'm a linguist & only care about what people actually DO, not what the rules are then :D

[P0dex]

@dutchforn00bs I actually just had a discussion about this at a Dutch/non-Dutch meeting (Gezellig Nederlands in Groningen). About the dynamic nature of a language and about what people call/write things and how they are officially called/written (by Taalunie). I agree totally that since we all call them pepernoten they are called pepernoten. I also don't like it when they change words just for the heck of it while the majority of people want to keep the old spelling (like pannekoeken).

[dutchforn00bs]

@P0dex Exactly! Spelling is a slightly different matter in my opinion, because you don't acquire writing like you do speaking. But people trying to prescribe how to use language annoys me to no end :D

[dutchforn00bs]

@P0dex *good

[sweetnymphetamines]

Hey Lidewij!

Could you do a video about Dutch grammar, how to say "me, you, him, her, us, them" etc.?

Dank je!

[Gyroglle]

@sweetnymphetamines If subject: (I, you, he etc): Ik, jij, hij, zij, wij, jullie (2nd plural), zij

If object: (Me, you, him etc): Mij, jou, hem, haar, ons, jullie, hen

Hen becomes 'hun' if it's an indirect object.

[curiouscookie]

I was in Amsterdam in December last year, and hadn't seen a Zwarte Piet before. My American friends found it a little strange, but I thought it was really interesting.

Glad to see a new DutchForN00bs video!!!

[lianneinthebigworld]

I was taught (yes, in school :p) and st. nicholas actually freed some slaves (Moren) and that they were so grateful they stayed to work for him XD

Also, the candy :) And you didn't even mention the suprises and snappy poems!!

[dutchforn00bs]

@lianneinthebigworld I did! But then I cut it out, because the video's too long.

[originkemet]

broom is used for sweeping

[missmahnee]

we just combine st. nick with christmas in the US. there's already a big holiday at the end of november. obviously there's a nasty history with blackface in vaudeville theater here, so I still cringe a bit to see the black peits. we have vulcan characters that march in summer parades in little towns. they smudge there faces with black paint, don't go head to toe blackface -- hopefully some of the black peit characters consider that look;)

[greendha]

haha its reminds me of a movie i've watched recently, titled : Alles is liefde, its 'bout sinterklaas and the black piet also.. the movie tells me alot 'bout how's christmas in Holland and its just makes me really wanna go there.. love that movie though..

thanks Lidewij..

[viprofferi]

Amusing! thanks for the chocolade dear. :D

You look like you always get your presents. ;-)

[barkatthemoon6]

So essentially it's nearly identical to Nikolaustag in Germany only bigger :)

In Germany, one would put the Nikolaus-Stiefel, or boot, outside the door and it would be filled with candy and little presents from Sankt Nikolaus.

There's also a bit in there about a guy called Knecht Ruprecht, who was kind of an evil counterpart to Nikolaus that would punish misbehaving children.  I don't know if the Netherlands has anything equivalent.

[lunatheawesomee]

@barkatthemoon6 in belgium we have, that is zwarte piet.

[guitarheroewe1]

OMG WHEN I WENT TO THE NETHERLANDS, TO SEE MY FRIEND, SHE GAVE ME SOME DUTCH STUFF x3 AND I HAD SOME KRUIDNOTEN AND I WANT MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THEY ARE SO NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM i can't find them anywhere here D: but i did find some stroopwafels, and yay memories :3

[justcallmeHao]

@guitarheroewe1 I know a recepi, I can give it to you i've you like

[eusceptic]

Great video, keep the good work.

[npccostumes]

Thank you very much! I wish we had this holiday in America. I don't like the way Christmas is both about St. Nicholas and Jesus' birth. Seems awesome!

[Coszmonaut]

People who source their pictures have a special place in my heart.

[RODalicious]

I love the whole Sinterklaas thing. When I found out that he came from Spain, I was so surprised, haha And now that I'm living in Belgium, I have the possibility to live it all :)

[runegalar]

We have something somewhat similar in my family (don't know if it's common in other Norwegian families). We call him Sankt Niklas and he comes on the 7th of December and puts something in our stocking, usually some candy and such.

Love to learn a bit about Dutch culture (just ordered "Culture Shock: Netherlands" to learn more) as well as more about the language. Thank you!

[MyVelvetDarkness]

Great vid! you should take about the arrival of a new born cause i read about that and in netherlands is a bit different

[dutchforn00bs]

@MyVelvetDarkness In what way exactly? :)

[Harley0426]

lol Chimney sweeper (broom) .. My girlfriend was telling me about Sinterklaas and the tradition.. I watched it on the Live news thingy on the web .. was pretty awesome

[R0Wmusic]

haha this was awesome! my grandparents always bought us chocolate letters too and they could never find the proper letter at the store either (in Canada)! can't wait to have some pepernoten this Christmas :)

[TheRedOneDMC]

Wait, so Zwarte Pieten is translated roughly as Black Petes--Petes as in more than one Pete?

[dutchforn00bs]

@TheRedOneDMC yeah, Pieten is the plural of Piet :)

[TheRedOneDMC]

@dutchforn00bs Oh, okay. Ik was niet zeker, mijn Nederlands is niet so goed nog. Ik heb een andere vraag; ken je Assimil? Als ja, wat denk je over het? Het is de methode ik gebruik.

[dutchforn00bs]

@TheRedOneDMC Ik ken het niet voor Nederlands, sorry!

[TheRedOneDMC]

@dutchforn00bs Dan voor een andere taal?

[dutchforn00bs]

@TheRedOneDMC ja, ik heb de Zweedse een keer uit de bieb gehaald, maar weet niet meer wat ik ervan vond.

[TheRedOneDMC]

@dutchforn00bs Bieb = bibliotheek? Zweeds? Waarom Zweeds? Wil je naar... Umm... Zweedeland(? XD) gaan?

[dutchforn00bs]

@TheRedOneDMC Ja, biebliotheek! (Sorry!) En ik ken een paar Zweedse mensen, dus dacht ik het het leuk zou zijn de taal een beetje te kunnen. (Het is Zweden, trouwens!)

[TheRedOneDMC]

@dutchforn00bs Ik zal herinneren dat het is Zweden en niet Zweedenland, dankuwel. :P Ik zal weggoien, ik heb school morgenochtend. Dankjewel ook voor de lekker(?) video's over de Nederlandse taal en cultuur. :)

[dutchforn00bs]

@TheRedOneDMC lekker is just for food, leuk might be a better word :)

[dutchforn00bs]

@TheRedOneDMC *bibliotheek

[lunatheawesomee]

@TheRedOneDMC Zweden, het is zweden.

[rdaws73]

Thanks for the vids. Next time I visit your country, I'll be more prepared!

[Lidespam]

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