dutch children's traditions

Dutch children have even gone as far as giving specific marbles special names. “It could be 10 hours, it could be the whole night, you just don’t know. Claire Moses contributed reporting from London. Folktales > European folktales > Dutch folktales - Read an online collection of Dutch folktales at World of Tales - Stories for children from around the world! To make it more difficult, adult organizers may blindfold the children on their way to the dropping. A Dutch wheat field and a farm house at night. The handshake is the common form of greeting. The biggest port in Europe is in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. It’s a public holiday and I can tell you, … the Dutch scouting tradition known as a “dropping,” in which groups of children, generally pre-teenagers, are deposited in a forest and expected to find their way back to base. Shake hands with everyone individually including children. Well, as it turns out, what you are seeing is a Dutch tradition which takes place every June on the day that all high school seniors get their final exam grades and find out if they will be graduating. It is an old Dutch game which leads to amusement and requires good coordination and concentration. This game is also played in Belgium, France (billard hollandais), Germany (where it is called Jakkolo) and Czech Republic (where they refer to it as šulbak. The slots have different point values, from 1 – 4. The festivities include feasting and the exchange of gifts. “It’s a miracle that we are allowed to have a fire.”. The Netherlands is a country in North-West Europe. A full agenda signifies a full life. The aim of the game is to put the nail into the bottle only by moving the hips and the middle and upper legs. They peered into the night: Was this the path? “I’m going,” Stijn observed. A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Let Loose in the Night Woods, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/world/europe/netherlands-dropping-children.html. Some children hang up a stocking from the fireplace mantel on Christmas Eve, but there are no more presents after St. Nicholas Day for most Dutch children. It is Black Peter who goes down each home's chimney to leave gifts for the children, though in some legends he is also said to punish disobedient children. If a player was to get a set (1 puck in every slot), the score gets doubled (i.e. “Society is changing,” Mr. Oudega said. They trudged along a paved road in single file, too drained for conversation. … The Dutch are very punctual, and showing up even five minutes late is considered inappropriate. “My sister is sleeping. My feet are tired.”. The Netherlands is synonymous with cheese, with Gouda, Edammer and Reypenaer among the most... 3. For example, a large marble is called a “giant giant bonk.” There are many varieties of marble games, however they all require players to use their marbles to “shoot” competitors’ marbles out of a large circular arena marked on the ground. 1. The campers wolfed down the food, stared into the fire for a few minutes, and stumbled to their tents. It is not uncommon to see Dutch people in the northern parts of the Netherlands skating along the canals. Dutch children have even gone as far as giving specific marbles special names. He is going into adolescence, and then he will make decisions for himself.”. … But the tradition of Zwarte Piet is deeply ingrained in Dutch society. This post takes a look at the commonality of games and explains how you play some traditional Dutch children’s games…. In the Dutch scouting tradition known as “dropping,” groups of children, generally pre-teenagers, are deposited in a forest and expected to find their way back to base. A group of scouts before the start of the dropping. Sinterklaas doesn’t visit the children alone. 6. “His moral is that in the mind of God, children’s games possess as much significance as the activities of their parents”. 7 Dutch traditions for every visitor to the Netherlands 1. Some schools also expect you to provide a piece of cake for all the teachers. Dutch folktales. The 27th of april we celebrate the King’s birthday. “I’m here on a dropping,” he told them, hoping for the best. By 1 a.m., Stijn and the other campers were well into their third hour of hiking. But the core experience of dropping, he added, has not changed. His mother, Tamara, said that the time had come for him to take on greater responsibility, and that the dropping was one step in that direction. The Dutch people were renowned as excellent tradesmen and seafarers. My brain is tired. But no one complained, since there was no one to complain to. St. Nicholas leaves sweets in the clogs of Dutch children. “I don’t know why I’m going, but I’m going.”. This signals a positive result to friends and neighbors who pass by the house. They peered into the back seat of his car, where there were four children in blindfolds, which, Mr. Oudega said, “is not really allowed either.”. After the first and second round, all pucks that did not go into a slot are returned to the player, while pucks that did go in are stacked in the back of the slot. There are just three of the many games my Dutch friends and family shared. She paused, in thought. “You just drop your kids into the world,” she said. The forest floor was patched with ink-black moss. The calendar hides some candy in a special door, which must be opened each day. In the winter, the Dutch love to cheer on their favourite speed skaters. There was a crackling fire, and boiled sausages tucked into soft rolls. Kerstpakket. Let kids bike through the rain. Ten yards off the path, a huge body leapt, thrusting, behind the leaves, and the children startled. Spijkerpoepen is a game scouts like to play and other children on national holidays in the Netherlands. “It really is being on your own,” he said. If this sounds a little crazy to you, it is because you are not Dutch. If you have spent any amount of time living in the Netherlands you’ve probably been invited to a Dutch Circle Party and thought that you have experienced the strangest thing the country has to offer. “Kinkkeren”: Round shiny marbles have captured the imaginations of Dutchchildren for centuries. “I have never had to do that before.”. The nail is attached to the string and fastened to the backside of the player’s trousers. Scouts rely only on a primitive GPS to indicate the right direction. This game of shooting marbles dates back to the Romans and is still extremely popular in the Netherlands. Another report surfaced in 2017, when scout leaders in Belgium dropped 25 children in the woods, then drank a number of beers and fell asleep, leaving the children wandering in the forest after their appointed pickup time. Another one of the Christmas traditions in the Netherlands is to … And try to follow the rules.’”. Families go to church together on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas morning. These are considered “universal values” derived from games, introducing children to societal ideals and rules, while also helping develop their motor skills. The woods closed in, becoming dense. Among the Dutch, instead of people showering the birthday person with special treats, it is the birthday person’s place to treat those around him or her. This is one reason his parents have sent him to camp. Very close friends may greet each other by air kissing near the cheek three times, starting with the left cheek. 2. Some Dutch people argue that the character should not be discontinued because it is part of a long-held Dutch tradition around Sinterklaas. Far from the land of helicopter parenting, getting ‘dropped’ in the forest is a beloved scouting tradition. “The time window in which we can teach him is closing. Wait until invited before moving to a first-name basis. The games represented in Bruegel’s picture are universal and cross-cultural: playing with a doll, rolling a hoop, playing shop, swinging from a bar, performing a handstand, building a well, pretending to ride a horse, shooting marbles, pitch and toss, playing leapfrog, riding piggyback, making bubbles, bowling, piñata, balancing a stick, walking on stilts, enacting a play, etc. If it is your child’s birthday and they are at a Dutch primary school, you will be expected to supply a ‘traktatie’ – an edible gift for every child in the class. 5. Certainly, many adults in the Netherlands look back on their droppings fondly. When Stijn emerged the next morning, bleary-eyed, at 11 a.m., he considered himself a veteran. This is the Dutch scouting tradition known as a “dropping,” in which groups of children, generally pre-teenagers, are deposited in a forest and expected to find their way back to base. “Stijn is 11,” she said. But they are also given to people we like (friends, family and colleagues). “They looked at each other, then they smiled at me and said: ‘Have a good evening. It is late and long and people are a little frightened.”. The Dutch have a strong desire to order their time in agendas and on calendars. Then the driver threw the car into gear and sped away, gravel crunching under its tires. But Dutch journalists were unimpressed at all the fuss, mocking it as a “droppingsdrama” and “a bit romanticized.” “The dropping is often the most exciting part of a camping trip,” explained one follow-up article. Like the name says, you walk with a bag or sack on your feet. A half-moon had appeared in the sky. His heart sank, he said, “because what I did was against the law.”, The officers pulled up beside him and asked him to roll down his window. Droppings distill these principles into extreme form, banking on the idea that even for children who are tired, hungry and disoriented, there is a compensatory thrill to being in charge. Yes, the Dutch let their kids "literally" bike in the rain (with the right … In just about every culture, children used to play specific games at birthdays or on other special occasions. Fifteen minutes passed, and another 15, and there was no sign that they were anywhere near their campsite. Here in the Netherlands Spijkerpoepen and Koekhappen are very specific Dutch games, whereas Sjoelbak and Ganzenbord are commonly played in other cultures too. They are “absorbed in their games with the seriousness displayed by adults in their apparently more important pursuits”. Stijn was staring straight ahead, like a zombie. The children on the dropping in Austerlitz, not far from Utrecht, walked into the woods, and the smell of pine needles rose from the sandy earth. He has never been lost in the woods before. If you work in a Dutch company, you will most likely receive the annual kerstpakket. That night was the first dropping for Stijn Jongewaard, an 11-year-old boy with jutting ears, who claimed to have learned English from Minecraft video games and “Hawaii Five-O.” At home, he spends much of his leisure time planted in front of his PlayStation. “My parents are sleeping,” he said. They gather together for a family dinner of roast hare, venison, goose, or turkey. October 16, 2015. An ‘ontbijtkoek’ (gingerbread cookie), or other soft delicacy, is attached to a thread and the players try to bite it off while keeping hands behind their backs. Daniël Bos, a scout, before the start of the dropping. A more recent tradition is to give children a special calendar (or Advent calendar) helping them count down to Christmas in the Netherlands. For a few minutes, there was the sound of cars on a road, but then that, too, quieted. If you peruse the Dutch newspapers with sufficient attention, you will find evidence of droppings gone awry. Families usually decide on the house rule for a puck which may go into a slot but bounce back out or a puck that lands on top of another. Children in the Netherlands leave their shoes filled with hay, carrots, and sugar for Sinterklaas's horse. Darkness was falling. Angloinfo South Holland, Are children’s games universal? If the news is positive, the successful student (or happy parents) hang out the Dutch flag and attach to it the student’s schoolbag. “The parents,” the newspaper noted somberly, “were not satisfied with the incident.”. In the present day, we often tend to discard unwanted clothes without a second thought. Children are taught not to depend too much on adults; adults are taught to allow children to solve their own problems. He no longer missed his PlayStation. The aim of the game is to reach the last square before any of the other players, avoiding obstacles, bridges, and “death” – where the player is sent back to start. However, critics of Zwarte Piet fiercely disagree. The Sinterklaas (a figure based on Saint Nicholas, a patron saint of children) is a prime traditional festivity of the Netherlands. “Of course, you make sure they don’t die, but other than that, they have to find their own way.”, Still, Ms. de Jong, 58, has begun to question whether droppings are really all that fun. In the morning, the horse treats have been replaced with gifts for the children. Elves Don't Help Sinterklaas... Rather than elves, Sinterklaas has helpers called Zwarte Piet (Black … Celebrate birthdays by sitting in a circle with tea, coffee and a slice of cake. We are foreigners/expats in Amsterdam and we've been living here for more than 2 years now. Since then, the practice has become far more regulated. 4. For example, a large marble is called a “giant giant bonk.” There are many varieties of marble games, however they all … The stroop makes it more difficult to bite into the apple and the likelihood of getting besmeared with stroop is quite high. He has helpers. In 2011 and 2014, children on droppings were fatally struck by cars while walking alongside roads. The dropping team does carry a cellphone in case of emergency, and the scouting association requires participants to wear high-visibility vests and distributes a long list of guidelines, mainly geared toward traffic safety. – play at In some variations of the challenge, loosely based on military exercises, adults trail the teams of children, but refuse to guide them, although they may leave cryptic notes as clues. “It really does make you feel that you are in charge.”. Pieter Bruegel the Elder illustrated more than eighty games in his picture Children’s Games in 1560 (the painting is currently on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna). The player whose turn it is Each turn consists in three rounds where the player slides all available pucks down the board. Some of the games are similar to others from my childhood while others are brand new! The door opened to release three children: towheaded boys of 12 and 15, and a 12-year-old girl with dark pigtails and an emoji-covered backpack. AUSTERLITZ, the Netherlands — Shortly after 10 p.m. on a recent night, a car came to a stop at the edge of the woods. A “perilous adventure,” the Germans reported. The campers finally rang someone’s doorbell and got a ride. Family and friends will probably visit, call or send a card. And he said that someday, when he had children, he wanted them to experience a dropping. If you have Dutch ancestry, you may find yourself looking for ways to incorporate Holland Christmas traditions into your holiday celebration. Although traditional Dutch clothing is not often seen in the main Dutch cities, there are communities in the Netherlands where traditional clothing is still worn. World of Tales. Pictured below, setting up the game to play at a party. Birthdays are greeted with enthusiasm in Dutch culture. The Meertens Institute says the first intocht van Sinterklaas, or the arrival … As a result, everything has to be done at fixed times: There is a time to work, a time to … This is the Dutch scouting tradition known as a “dropping”, in which groups of children, generally preteenagers, are deposited in a forest and expected to find their way back to base. A forest not far from Utrecht, the site of the recent dropping. They were tiny figures at the foot of the forest, miles from the summer camp they were attending, with only a primitive GPS to indicate the right direction. Rik Oudega, a 22-year-old scout leader, recalled being pulled over by police as he drove the wrong way on a one-way road on his way to a dropping. Koekhappen is a Dutch game that children – and sometimes adults! It is meant to be challenging, and they often stagger in at 2 or 3 in the morning. 1+2+3+4=10 x 2 = 20. “Could be,” said Thomas, the 12-year-old team leader. It was nearly 2 a.m. when they stumbled into camp. Droppings are such a normal part of Dutch childhood that many there are surprised to be asked about it, assuming it is common to every country. “It shows you, even in very hard times, to keep walking, to keep going,” he said. And then, because there was nothing else to do, they plunged into the woods. I started asking around to friends and family and the responses were great! The Dutch — it is fair to say — do childhood differently. At that halfway mark, the children were given snacks and water, but in exchange, their GPS was taken away, and they had to follow their instincts. Sjoelbak is a game where players slide pucks down a board aiming for one of the 4 slots at the opposite end. The Germans reported sometimes with additional hazelnuts or dried fruits: children Loose... Should not be discontinued because it is late and long and people are a little frightened. ” must be each! A nice thing to do to kids, actually, ” said Thomas, the treats. The forest is a Dutch company, you may find yourself looking for ways incorporate... You work in a special door, which must be opened each day hours, it be. Hide in the woods before in dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate – sometimes with additional or. Tucked into soft rolls marbles have captured the imaginations of Dutchchildren for centuries to write down scheduled and... 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