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Sinterklaas is back in the Netherlands
Sunday 18 November 2012
Sinterklaas with princess Maxima and her daughters in Roermond. Photo: Novum
An estimated 50,000 people were in the Limburg town of Roermond on Saturday to witness the official arrive of Sinterklaas – marking the start of the three-week countdown to the main Dutch present-giving celebration on December 5.
A further 1.7 million people watched the arrival of the Sint from Spain on television. It was the 61st time the ‘arrival’ of St Nicholas has been a formally-organised event, Nos television said.
This year, there were no reports of any protests about Zwarte Piet, St Nicholas’ controversial black helpers.
Last year, several Surinamese artists were arrested while protesting about the ‘racist elements’ in the Sinterklaas tradition.
Spending
Although the official arrival is shown live on television, other cities and towns also organise their own events.
In IJmuiden, a local council-organised Sinterklaas arrival was partly disrupted by the discovery of a body in the water.
Meanwhile, a report by ING economists at the weekend shows a sack of traditional Sinterklaas presents has largely escaped inflation.
Although the retail price index has gone up by 2.9%, dvds have gone down 4.2% in price and books 2%. Sweets are 0.4% cheaper than a year ago. Toys are 1.2% more expensive and perfume has risen 1.7% in price.
Austerity
Research last week by the Q&A research group showed 20% of households think the government’s austerity measures will have an impact on their Sinterklaas celebrations this year.
The researchers say just under half (49%) of Dutch households plan to celebrate Sinterklaas, continuing the downward trend of the past few years.
Are you planning to celebrate Sinterklaas? Share your thoughts using the comment box below.
© DutchNews.nl
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
I love Santa Clauses. I also love subordinate clauses and adverbial phrases. Call me a grammarian, if you like, but there’s much delight available in the perfectly formed sentence.
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You idiot. You’ve gone off topic AGAIN !
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Self deprecation as confronting as a casual apostrophe.
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Of course, according to the conspiracy theorist cognoscenti, the bishop’s mitre (and, of course the pope’s too!) is actually an echo of the fish-head hat and cloak that priests of Dagon used to wear in ancient Babylon… and supposedly proof of the satanic nature of the catholic church…
😉
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One year the Mulgrave Shire council had a Christmas tree on the sports oval and I was given an exquisite gift of a china cup and saucer and a jug all of which were tiny. I recall a touch of orange in the ornamentation and a black edge that complemented the pearly white of the body of the items. They were packed in a tiny wooden sled made with balsa wood and roughly sealed with a finish. The sled was like a shelf. It had partitions. I think I believed it could be stood on one end to rest the ornaments on it. About that I am unsure.
In the tropical heat of that leccy light lit evening my present I knew had been hauled a long way from the place Sinterklaas had got it from for me. I can never have a gift from Sinterklaas the likes for enchantment.
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I remember those hard little biscuits that the helper of St Nicholas used to throw in; peper noten. They looked and tasted like dog biscuits. I expected some presents, real ones, who wants to be good all year long just get some doggie bikkies thrown at you..
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Princess Maxima looks pretty nice…I like the name too, Maxima.
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Unless your surname was ‘Culpa’… Just imagine what kinda dialogue might arise between her and her (Italian) lover: ‘Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! Mea Maxima Culpa!’
😉
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I mean ‘her’ surname, of course!
😐
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Indeed, Helvi… and it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard to be good all year, isn’t it?
🙂
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Asty, very hard indeed, too many bullies and bastards on Internet, everywhere really, I just watched the SBS news, some ruffians have behaved very badly towards French pack packers on a Melbourne bus…at least all people at Pigs are nice…. 🙂
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Helvi, over at LinkedIN, I got into a blue with an apologist for the Australian Computer Society – by merely pointing out that IMHO, they add negative value as a society because they support “skilled” immigration into a sector (the IT industry) which is running at more than twice the national general unemployment level. I pointed out that this is a cruel trick for immigrants with average to marginal English skills and no employment history – unless you count driving cabs, flipping burgers and manning service stations. I also said that the society worked in the opposite way to a union – namely advocating policies that flood the market with IT people and push wages and conditions down.
Some twat accused me of being a troll and threatened (in a thinly veiled way) legal action. Perhaps it was because I questioned whether the motives of the executive were ridgy didge – you know, let’s have a society where the executives get to go on overseas junket conferences courtesy of the members’ annual fees.
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Lol H, what are ‘pack packers’, is that Finnish ?
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