Since 2008, the town of Rhinebeck has celebrated the Dutch holiday Sinterklaas every winter. Sinterklaas is an integral part of Rhinebeck’s town culture, bringing people across the Hudson Valley together to mark the start of the Christmas season. But what is Sinterklaas? And how did this 700 year-old custom make its way to Rhinebeck?
Origins of Sinterklaas
Sinterklaas began in the Netherlands, circa 1873, when a couple local farmers dressed up as Saint Nicholas and handed out sweets to poor children. The holiday is centered around Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children and sailors, and now the legendary figure in American culture, Santa Claus.
Each year on December 5th, Dutch families celebrate Sinterklassvond (Sinterklaas Eve). On the night of Sinterklassvond, Dutch children leave their shoes outside to find them filled with small gifts the following day. Sinterklaas is celebrated in the Netherlands with various ceremonies and parades. It ends on December 6th, when Saint Nicholas departs.
Sinterklaas In Rhinebeck
In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas is centered around gift giving. However, in Rhinebeck, Sinterklaas is fixated on community interaction. The festival features a town-wide parade where people dress in traditional, homemade costumes.
Local artists set up workshops around town to help people make their own hats, lanterns, or puppets. Sinterklaas functions as a way to support a variety of small businesses, local organizations, and to help foster a sense of wholesome community in the Hudson Valley.
Why Don’t We Have Sinterklaas This Year?
Sinterklaas is loved, eagerly awaited by all, and has become a tradition for many families, but it was unfortunately canceled this year. While this news has been greeted with mixed feelings from different people, everyone has the same question: Why was our event, which brings thousands of tourists to Rhinebeck each year, canceled? The person to answer this question would be Jeanne Fleming. Fleming is an artist and creative director living in New York. She has organized Sinterklaas for 16 years and is the director of New York’s Village Halloween Parade.
There has been a lot of speculation about the reason Sinterklaas was canceled. Sinterklaas lost a lot of financial resources compared to last year, but was it really canceled due to financial reasons? Fleming confirmed the validity of this idea by saying, “There are many reasons, but if I have to give an example, the most important problem is that we lost most of our donors last year, so we had a serious loss of money and resources.”
Fleming, who said that it has become a tradition for many families, could not help but mention that she was also very sad that the event was not held this year and that many people reached out to her and tried to help. We understand from what she said during the interview that the problem is not just money: “We have been doing this job for 16 years and many people are tired, older and the weather is very cold when we hold the event. Money is not the only problem, I need to talk to people again because people do this on a voluntary basis. There are people who withdraw from this job because it is too cold or they are too busy.”
We asked Fleming whether the money problem that emerged this year would affect other years. Fleming described how everyone, especially children, were eagerly waiting for this event and that they would discuss whether it would be a future event at the meeting they would hold in January. Fleming said that they had encountered many problems throughout history and always solved them, and that she had thought about this job like a child. That child is now older and as with every growing child, the expenses have increased. At the end of this interview, some good news could be discovered. Fleming said that Sinterklaas was canceled, but that we were not fully saying goodbye to Sinterklaas this year. She shared the good news by saying, “We hope to do the event “Keep the Light on”. And also the church has a capacity of 900 people, so those who want to come will need to make a reservation, there will be 3 performances. And also 18 different artists will be making and exhibiting animal themed boxes.”
Bringing Back Sinterklaas
We all love the festive season of winter, and Sinterklaas is a classic celebration. This Rhinebeck tradition has been going on for years, but due to lack of resources and money, the many-year-long streak will be lost in 2024. The breathtaking event is very expensive. The whole festival costs about $130,000 on average annually. Piling costs from previous years have weighed heavily on the Sinterklass committee. The director of Sinterklaas, Jeanne Fleming, felt that because of this debt it was wise to take a break and renew funds before continuing.
The main concern is that Sinterklaas will have to take more gap years due to inflation. If we as a community help raise money through fundraising events, donations, and have more volunteer help during Sinterklaas, then we could bring back our beloved festival. As a community, we could host galas which could be a big way to raise money for Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas needs a younger generation of leadership to take on the tradition moving forward. There is hope that the event will take place in 2025 with a smaller program if enough money can be raised by our wonderful community.
