Sinterklaas will not pass our houses quietly this year, but it doesn’t make much difference. The national entry of the Goedheiligman takes place without an audience at a secret location. Due to the corona virus, spectators are not allowed to be present when Saint Nicholas sets foot in the Netherlands on 14 November.
This is reported by the NTR. The national entry will therefore continue, “with a small reservation,” said the broadcaster. “If new, stricter corona measures are introduced, a nationwide entry may really not be possible. But we don’t assume that. We do everything we can to give Sinterklaas a warm welcome in the Netherlands as always, but in a way that is responsible. ”A first: since the entry was first seen on national television in 1952, Sinterklaas has never had it. without an audience.
The responsible welcome means that from now on the NTR must keep the arrival location of the country’s most popular bishop a secret for two months. The broadcaster does this to prevent the Sinterklaas entry from growing into a super spreading event, in which crowds of spectators spread the corona virus. “To prevent the entry from drawing a large crowd of interested people, we are forced to keep the location secret this year.”
About the question how Dieuwertje Blok & co. The Saint and his helpers will prepare a “warm welcome” without an audience, the NTR has not yet let go of anything. “We are currently working hard on a scenario to make the entry a party for all children, even without an audience.”
Blood-curdling storylines
Since 1952, the national entry has been regarded as an institution among watch-tube children with its blood-curdling storylines about horses with cold feet, storms in the Bay of Biscay or chocolate letters eaten by Petes. The first editions of the national Sinterklaasintocht took place in Amsterdam in the 1950s, but since his arrival in Hoorn in 1964, Saint Nicholas has given a different municipality the scoop every year. Last year, 1.7 million Dutch people watched the national entry into Apeldoorn.
While the entry will continue in a slimmed-down form this year, many congregations have put an end to their local entry in recent weeks. The entry has been canceled from Maastricht to Franeker and from Almelo to Hellevoetsluis, including lantern parades, humpa orchestras, biscuit contests, pocket running courses and other paraphernalia of the Sinterklaas arrival. Little consolation is that in many municipalities the entry is living on digitally. Many Sinterklaas committees record an entry beforehand, which children can then watch online.
Long, short, straight, curly hair
The national entry of Sinterklaas will be shown on NPOZapp and NPO3 on Saturday 14 November from noon. The first Sinterklaas journal can be seen on Monday, November 9. Sinterklaas will be escorted during the secret entry by soot wipers without gold earrings and red lipstick, the NTR reports. Also, their hairstyle will be “not uniform but diverse”, according to the broadcaster, varying “from long, curly, straight to short”.
