I just returned from the gym. My flatmate was on her way out so I had the house for myself. I was organising my groceries as I heard banging from the door. In Dutch houses it is always a bit tricky to know the source of the clings and clongs so I did not react. Another bang followed. I peaked out of the window and heard voices of children shouting:"Yeah! Iemand is binnen!" (Yes, someone is inside!)
I went to the door and was met with a group of children with Halloween lamps and they started singing. As they stopped I told them that I will have to go and see what I might have.
In a panicky manner I went through the cupboards. I have a policy not to keep candy or cookies at the house due to my addiction to them. Due to this I ended up being the boring uncle sort of guy. The only thing I was able to provide them with were oranges. The ultimate sign of failure was that the mothers looked happy. I guess I live in a good area because even the children pretended thankful and a small group of them sang another song.
Currently I am hiding away from the windows. Out of oranges.
I wrote a while ago an article to the Dutch daily Volkskrant on the trade-off between freedom and security. I felt awful when a moment ago my alarm bells went off on the moment I heard the knock.
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1 comment:
We live and learn. A few friends of mine already commented saying "Halloween? Now? But it was two weeks ago..."
Then I received the following email:
"Halloween???? Sinte Maarten!
They must have been singing 'Sinte, Sinte Maarten, de koeien hebben staarten. Hier woont een rijk man, die veel geven kan!'
Remember: Saint Martin gave a poor man half of his cloak [proving he was not dutch, of course]. So on the 11th of November, his nameday, kids in certain
dutch areas do the carolling thing with their Sintemaarten-lamps. And Amsterdam and Noord-Holland are one of these traditional regons where they do this."
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