The Arrival of Sanikolas

Saturday, November 29th.
Today saw the arrival of Sanikolas. As per tradition in the Netherlands he arrived by steamboat (tugboat) from Spain (Klein Bonaire) to greet the children of Bonaire. He was accompanied by a troop of Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) and his ship was escorted by a fleet of little sailboats captained by children. There were booths set up in the park where the children could get their faces painted or participate in games of skill. Some of the children were dressed as Zwarte Piet and others wore red bishop’s mitres like Sanikolas.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, Sanikolas is Papiamentu for Sinterklaas who is the Dutch Saint Nicholas. On Bonaire they celebrate Saint Nicholas Day which is December 6th. Sinterklaas has a long white beard and wears a red bishop’s dress and red mitre (bishop’s hat) and carries a gold coloured staff with a fancy curved top and sometimes rides a white horse. Except for the white horse this is what the Sanikolas on Bonaire looked like. Zwarte Piet is Sinterklaas’ helper.

On December 5, children leave their shoes at the front door with grass or carrots for Sinterklaas’ horse. Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet visit the children and leave presents. Zwarte Piet comes down the chimney and that is why his face is black. We found it interesting that even though the portrayers of Black Peter were already dark skinned, they all had “black face” make-up on.

Typical Sinterklaas candy is a chocolate letter of the child’s first name, a chocolate Sinterklaas wrapped in aluminum foil and chocolate coins.

In days past Zwarte Piet was known to leave salt or sticks for children who were ‘bad’, but that part of the tradition has been left in the past.

The kids here, like kids anywhere, were awed by Sanikolas’ arrival – waving at him even before the boat had reached the dock. It looked like there may have been some children that were chosen to walk down the dock with Sanikolas. It took him some time to walk from the dock to the park area, a distance of maybe 25 yards, as he stopped and talked with children along the way. There was music playing which we could only assume were Sanikolas songs since they were in Papiamentu.

One thing that amazed both of us was the tugboat. Before pulling into the dock it came into the area of the bay where we dock the dinghy and did a 360 degree turn, pivoting around the boat’s centre. This was done in a space that was just a little bit wider than the length of the boat.

Although we didn't stay past the arrival and greeting of Sanikolas, we could hear the celebrations continue for about 3 hours after we left. There was music and entertainment on the stage that is at the centre of the park by the town pier. We were both extremely grateful that we were able to watch and learn more new customs as we have so often during our voyage.