Josh becomes Zwarte Piet!

Last night the John Deere factory in Horst (where Josh currently works) held their annual Sinterklaas party for all employees and their families. Of course Sinterklaas (the Dutch version of Santa Claus) had to make an appearance. Sinterklaas is always accompanied by one or several assistants called “Zwarte Piet” (Black Pete) (see the last blog for an explanation). Josh had the honor of being a Zwarte Piet!

In the late afternoon, the engineering office at John Deere is transformed into a dressing room, as two men and three women metamorphose into Sinterklaas and four Zwarte Piets. Some engineers still attempt to work on their computers, but that’s hard to do when colleagues are wearing ridiculous costumes. Zwarte Piet requires a lot of makeup and costume parts, so several women flit around getting all the Piets ready.

Makeup, leggings, pants, shirt, gloves, collar, wig, hat, more makeup to touch up the smudges…Finally, Josh has been transformed into Zwarte Piet and he’s ready to go! He looks a bit nervous, I think.
At this point he asks, “So, what is Zwarte Piet supposed to do, anyway?” Kind of late to ask that! Turns out it’s a big job! No wonder he’s nervous.

Downstairs in the cafeteria, all the party-goers have assembled. The adults snack on coffee and speculaas (a gingerbread-like cookie) while the Master of Ceremonies and two Zwarte Piets get the kids riled up with games and songs. Everyone can’t wait to see Sinterklaas.
Finally, there he is! Sinterklaas makes his grand appearance, accompanied by the other two Zwarte Piets! There’s my favorite Tall Zwarte Piet. Cheering fills the air.
Our Tall Zwarte Piet is very busy. First, he has to help lead the children in a song and dance. It was in Dutch so I only caught a few words, but it was something about a rabbit with a flea on its nose and it involved hopping around like a bunny.
Then, after wheeling the big cart of presents over to Sinterklaas, Tall Zwarte Piet makes the rounds handing out pepernoten, tiny gingersnap-like cookies.
Robert’s daughter Lauren, whose is also American, commented to me, “Doesn’t the tall Piet in red look kind of like Josh?” I thought she had him figured out, but she was still quite hesitant to accept cookies from him.
Of course, even though I’m enamored with the Tall Zwarte Piet, the star of the show is really Sinterklaas. He hands out gifts to all the children and shakes their hands before leaving.
What a fun experience! I had never imagined that moving to the Netherlands would involve seeing my husband become Zwarte Piet.