Sint Maarten

Description

Pictures of the Dutch version of Halloween, called "Sint Maarten", made with elements of the Boo! Halloween kit.

I live in the Netherlands, where we don’t quite know the American Halloween traditions, but we do have a similar holiday. It’s called Sint Maarten and it is celebrated on the 11th of November, so it will be celebrated soon. The tradition is meant for children from the age of 4 till 12 years, who will make their own “lampion” at school. In the evening all the children will go door to door with their lampions around their neighbourhood to sing Sint Maarten songs and collect candy for them.

When I was little I was always very, very shy. So you can imagine that it was quit hard for me to sing songs for strangers all night long. I still remember the first time that I went door to door by myself, together with my little brother. I was 6 years old at the time and because I was so shy I kept singing the entire time with my hand stuck in my mouth, because of which people couldn’t hear me that well. A year later I went through the streets again with a self-made lampion, but this time I was surrounded by more friends, so it became less scary. I got more courage from their courage, and so I finally discovered the fun of singing for Sint Maarten!