The question is, why do you have to get smacked around so much, before posting something like this, written by a normal human being? Curious minds want to know. Otherwise, we will just continue to assume you are an emotional two year old. PS Glad you enjoyed the day in Leiden - I only wish you did that more often.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : First, get out and take a walk or a bike ride. If you stay inside, you could be anywhere, right? Now that you're out, do you see gangs of brightly dressed people in black face makeup walking around? Hundreds of them? OK, you're in Leiden. For those of you who have never experienced the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet companions, it sounds kinda weird. And it probably is, but the blackface has been part of the tradition since medieval periods, and people aren't about to change it now, even though there have been protests about it for "racist" reasons. Anyway, it's a lot of fun. Sinterklaas himself arrived yesterday a boat, while thousands of parents and their kids cheered his arrival. The Zwarte Piets are his helpers, sorta like elves but with more clought. If a kid has been good, the Zwarte Piets give them a pepper cookie. If they've been bad, theoretically the Zwarte Piets get to throw the kid into a big sack and take him off to Spain. Don't ask me what happens to the bad kids once they get there...I've never wanted to know. sinterklaas leiden 2014 - Google Search https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1036&bih=560&q=sinterklaas+leiden+2014&oq=sinterklaas+leiden&gs_l=img.1.0.0i24l2.1864.9597.0.11575.20.19.1.0.0.0.197.1965.12j7.19.0.cprnk%2Cekomodo%3Dtrue%2Ckpnr%3D100...0...1.1.58.img..1.19.1865.24a8eWIYrQY https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1036&bih=560&q=sinterklaas+leiden+2014&oq=sinterklaas+leiden&gs_l=img.1.0.0i24l2.1864.9597.0.11575.20.19.1.0.0.0.197.1965.12j7.19.0.cprnk%2Cekomodo%3Dtrue%2Ckpnr%3D100...0...1.1.58.img..1.19.1865.24a8eWIYrQY sinterklaas leiden 2014 - Google Search https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1036&bih=560&q=sinterklaas+leiden+2014&oq=sinterklaas+leiden&gs_l=img.1.0.0i24l2.1864.9597.0.11575.20.19.1.0.0.0.197.1965.12j7.19.0.cprnk%2Cekomodo%3Dtrue%2Ckpnr%3D100...0...1.1.58.img..1.19.1865.24a8eWIYrQY vandaagopstap.nl Intocht Sinterklaas Leiden 502 × 315 - 123k - jpg vandaagopstap.nl Huis van Sinterklaas in Leiden 502 × 315 - 34k - jpg nufoto.nl fullscreen 1024 ×... View on www.google.com https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1036&bih=560&q=sinterklaas+leiden+2014&oq=sinterklaas+leiden&gs_l=img.1.0.0i24l2.1864.9597.0.11575.20.19.1.0.0.0.197.1965.12j7.19.0.cprnk%2Cekomodo%3Dtrue%2Ckpnr%3D100...0...1.1.58.img..1.19.1865.24a8eWIYrQY Preview by Yahoo
