The Sinterklaas feast is the most popular and broadly observed holiday in the Netherlands and this applies even more among Dutch people who live abroad. In early December Dutch diplomats, soldiers, development workers, tropical doctors, business people and teachers everywhere around the world celebrate Sinterklaas, with or without children, in an attempt to recall something of that home feeling at least once a year.
Sinterklaas overseas gives a surprising and hilarious view of this exported tradition through dozens of stories and photographs dating from 1907 to 2005 and originating from more than 30 countries. In the compilation the saintly man arrives on the Mekong, the Nile and the Niger and continues his journey by horse, pick-up truck, rickshaw, camel and elephant. The house on the canal has made way for palm beaches but the traditional elements have been preserved, including the sometimes controversial Black Piets, baked spice pepernoten, Sinterklaas's sack and the timeless "See yonder comes the steamboat" song. Sinterklaas overseas is a book that will evoke recognition and especially astonishment in all readers, believers and unbelievers alike.
Paul Faber is an art historian, exhibition curator and publicist who specializes in world art and popular culture. He works at Amsterdam's Tropenmuseum as a collection curator.