Tomorrow is Sinterklaas -- the happiest of holidays for Dutch children.  Today, everyone is celebrating at the schools.  Especially for those living with school-aged children, this is all a very big deal.  I understand why the kids like it, of course:  lots of gifts, candy, special Sinterklaas songs, and a mythical figure prancing through the streets of their city and halls of their school.

But I have to admit that I have a hard time understanding it from a parental perspective.  Particularly an immigrant-parental perspective.

Naturally, there is a lot of sentimentality for Dutch people when it comes to parents helping to make the holiday a very special occasion for their children -- remembering and re-living their own childhoods.  But honestly -- coming at this whole Sinterklaas shindig from a more detached, culturally-curious perspective -- it's not a holiday that has a whole lot to offer parents.  Some might accuse me of being a something of a Scrooge or a Grinch in this (pardon the comparisons to Christmas antagonists), but I just have to say that there are some things that still perplex me deeply about Sinterklaas.

First of all, it's a holiday that comes with a lot of homework.  I know this is supposed to be fun and all that -- thus not really "homework" -- but when it comes to having a seven-year-old and a five-year-old write clever, themed poetry and design creative, personalized gift-packaging out of papier maché (the basic elements of the Sinterklaas "surprise" tradition), all on a relatively tight schedule... it sure does feel a lot like homework!  We still try to make it fun for the children.  But let me tell you:  it's not fun for the parents.

Second of all, what's the idea with making Sinterklaas a school-based holiday?!?  OK, I get it that it's easier to hire the guy in the red suit to come to a whole collective of families and such... But it's strange for me that one of the most significant holidays of the year is celebrated in a school context.  I'm sure this is just the American in me interacting to cultural differences.  But to me, important holidays are family occasions first of all and only secondarily social occasions.  But even the social holidays in America are not work days or school days!  But here in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas seems to be one of the highlights on the school calendar.  The family celebrations are quite secondary, it seems.  All the decorations, all the songs, all the school pageants, all the interaction with the Sint and the Pieten themselves -- it all happens at the schools.  This just seems so foreign to me.  But then what's odd is that while everything is happening at the schools, all other stores and businesses are operating as usual -- so none of the grown-ups really have the day off.  So how are the parents supposed to make such a high priority of being there for the "gezellige feestje" at the school?  Again, I just don't get it... 

And finally, I have kind of a hard time with Sinterklaas because it seems to have very little redeeming social value.  I mean seriously: What is Sinterklaas about except for mythology and materialism?  Kids go crazy over a whole seemingly random mythology.  They get a bunch of presents and sweets... And that's it.  I realize that this can sound a lot like the American Christmas (which, granted, can also easily get out of hand).  But with American Christmas, you at least have this cultural dialogue about "the true meaning of the holiday season."  Christians, of course, celebrate Christmas not just as a time of materialism and mythology but as the beginning point of faith and hope.  But even secularists will talk about Christmas as a season of "giving" or "sharing" or "being with family" or "hope."  Right?  But Sinterklaas doesn't even try to allude to any deeper meaning than the mythology and the materialism.

I don't get it.  I suppose I should apologize for my culturally-insensitive rant.  But if anyone could actually explain it to me in a way that transcends "But it's fun for the children" -- I would be very interested to hear it.  Maybe it's more about preserving Dutch culture in an increasingly globalized society... Maybe it's more about teaching children to be imaginative or something like that... Maybe it's something else.  What do you think?