Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Dutch Fairy Tales

The link to these tales and others is: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/books/dutch/griffis/santaklaas.html



The Boy Who Wanted More Cheese is very similar to Andersen's Red Shoes. In both, the children get much more than they asked for. Klaas Van Bommel loves cheese, his family is rich and they have plenty off other foods, but all he wants is cheese. Fairies carry him into a dreamland where he gets all the cheese he can stand. I think we've all been there... Just when he thinks he's going to explode, he wakes up from his dairy driven dream. I can see how overindulgence in cheese would be a real problem for Dutch parents and children. I was there on my honeymoon and it was a real problem for us (I love cheese and chocolate- Heaven!).





I also read the Dutch version of the Santa Claus tale, it makes for interesting reading. My husband and I happened to be honeymooning in Amsterdam the week before Dutch Christmas which is celebrated on Dec. 6. We were shopping at a various street markets when we wandered onto the BIG Christmas parade of the season. Sinter Klaas arrives on a white horse on a canal boat by way of the Amstel River. He is handed the key to the city, so he can deliver the toys the the children (no chimneys for this Santa). He then rides his horse off the boat and through St. Nicholas Square where his helpers, the black peters, throw cookies and treats to the children. The black peters, De Zwete Zwaren, are literally white people in black face and they wear black gloves to cover their hands (this would be unthinkable in the US!) It was a little weird, but a lot of fun!

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