Sinterklaas kapoentje!

[pyat]

Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas, which means that yesterday was Sinterklaas Eve. We marked the occasion at my mom and dad's house, with my older sister Krista and her husband Ryan.


There was a lot of Indonesian food - chicken satay, nasi goreng and rice.


And special mugs for the girls.


The holiday figure of Zwarte Piet can be vexing. I think it depends on whether you choose to believe in the "Moorish chimneysweep saved from an unjust death sentence" backstory or the "black-skinned slave used to frighten bad children" backstory.


There were riddles!


And small presents.


Hi, mom! Thanks for hosting!

And, today is another holiday! The Geeksgiving Dinner, which this year is being hosted by wggthegnoll and ruiskafleck.

Comments

[archai.livejournal.com]

It may be that I'm not sufficiently observant, but your family always seemed vaguely northern european or nordic to me - enough so that if you had asked me what cuisine I thought you'd dined on, the LAST thing I'd have said would have been Indonesian. I may or may not be observant, but I'm definitely confused.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Indonesia was a Dutch colony of one kind or another from about 1600 until 1940something. It's sort of like British people drinking tea, or eating a lot of curry. :)

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

Hee, the food was going to be the first thing that I commented on as well! As Piet said, Indonesia was a pretty major Dutch colony until relatively recently, and there's been a lot of crossing of cultures. There's a wonderful variety of Indonesian food in Dutch culture, and if you listen to Indonesian radio programs, you'll find quite a few people speak Dutch and continue to be fairly active in Holland. My uncle has lived in both Holland and Indonesia, and his wife is Indonesian living in Holland. My Mom went to Indonesia for their wedding 10 years ago, and has been in love with the country ever since. She already cooked Indonesian dishes before that, but once she came back? Dinners changed considerably! :)

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

In your family, you get to celebrate Sinterklaas with Sinterklass! It looks like it was a wonderful family celebration, the pictures bring back many fond memories for me!

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I told my students about Sinterklaas, and followed it up with, "My FIL is Santa Claus, so. . ." I didn't get any further than that. They demanded pictures, so pictures they shall have. :)