My Son Thinks Sinterklaas is Santa

My five year old son was sitting in complete silence at the kitchen table, studying the advent calendar I’d given him a few moments earlier. He’d been that way for at least a minute. His initial excitement had slowly given way to something more thoughtful as he looked at the image of a jolly Santa on the calendar’s front.

“It’s Sinterklaas,” he suddenly muttered to himself.

Shaken out of his own thoughts he looked over to me where I was unloading the dishwasher and pointed at the image.

“It’s Sinterklaas,” he repeated in disbelief, this time to me. His disbelief was not due to any doubt in his theory, no. He’d already expressed his belief that Sinterklaas is Santa a few days earlier. Now that he had an image of Santa in front of him he had all the evidence he needed. His disbelief was that other people could not see the obvious truth too (that Sinterklaas and Santa are the same person).

“Is it?” I asked, being caught a little off guard with a stack of plates in my hands.

“Yeah,” He replied with a frown, turning his attention back to the festive image of Santa. “It’s Sinterklaas wearing a different suit.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, putting the plates down. I could tell this was going to turn into an important discussion. “Doesn’t Sinterklaas live in Spain and Santa at the North Pole?”

My son paused to think for a moment. He frowned as he tried to find an answer that still fit his theory.

“Sinterklaas lives in Spain but then he goes to the North Pole,” he replied after a moment.

“Why does he go to the North Pole?” I asked curiously.

“To get the sleigh and reindeer of course,” he replied matter-of-factually.

I should have realized that. It was quite obvious after all.

“What about the elves?, “I asked, trying a different tactic, “Santa has elves helping him but Sinterklaas has the Pieten.”

This time he didn’t even miss a beat.

“The elves are the helpers of the Pieten,” he explained, which would make the Pieten middle management.

“Hhhmmm… Okay. What about Santa’s tummy? He’s much bigger than Sinterklaas.”

“He just…” Unsure how to finish the sentence my son started miming his hand going back and forth in front of his tummy while puffing up and deflating his cheeks.

It took me a moment to get his meaning. “Oh you mean he puts the weight on and then loses it?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, happy that I seemed to have started to understand.

I must admit. He was putting up quite a good argument. I couldn’t think of any more questions and he’d easily dismissed each one I had come up with. What if Sinterklaas is Santa? Isn’t it a big coincidence that the two men are similar and are in the same line of work? I was starting to think my son could be right. After all, the tradition of Santa Claus is based on the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, so technically they are the same person. Who’s to say they are not also literally the same person?

Later that evening (when the subject came up again) my nine year old daughter came up with the countertheory that Sinterklaas and Santa are in fact twin brothers running a family business. Her argument was also quite convincing. Now I’m confused.

Either way, I decided I was okay with it as long as I still got presents on Pakjesavond and Christmas morning.

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To find out more about the differences between Santa and Sinterklaas check out my Sinterklaas vs Santa – Eight Humorous Differences List

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