Hi we're Isis, Floor, Stijn, Jonah and Eden and we're the group celebrations. The two celebrations we did reserach about are Sinterklaas and Christmas. Christmas is a well-known holiday that gets celebrated all over the world, but Sinterklaas only gets celebrated in the Netherlands. Because India doesn't know what Sinterklaas is, we inserted a document down below explaining it.
Research
The main question of our topic is: How important are celebrations in your family/community? For our research we made surveys for both Sinterklaas and Christmas and we sent it to different people so we could answer the main question. Floor en Jonah made the surveys. We sent it to different people in different age categories and with other religions so we can get multiple answers from different perspectives. We sent the surveys through text messages and we also received the answers through text messages. We sent the surveys to 6 people and they all responded, but we only used 4 surveys (one for each age category ) Here are the questions and answers of each person that took the survey:
Person 1: Janny (Eden's grandmother), 83 years old and Christian |
Sinterklaas survey |
Do you celebrate Sinterklaas? When I was younger I used to celebrate it, not anymore now. |
What is your opinion about Zwarte Piet? I like Zwarte Piet. |
Do you think Sinterklaas should be abolished? Why or why not? I think Sinterklaas should stay, because it's a fun celebration for the kids. |
What is Sinterklaas about for you? I used to like it as a child, but now I don't celebrate it anymore. It's more a celebration for the kids. |
How do you celebrate Sinterklaas? I don't celebrate it anymore. |
Do you like Christmas or Sinterklaas better? I would rather celebrate Christmas, because it has a lot of meaning to me. |
Christmas survey |
Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes, I do. |
How do you celebrate Christmas? First i go to the church and then I celebrate it with my family. |
What does Christmas mean to you? It means the birth of Jezus. |
When it's Christmas do you spend more money on making the world better? (for example charities) I have a advent calendar that keeps me busy through the month of December. |
Is Christmas the most important celebration of the year? Why do you think so? Yes, because it's the birth of Jezus and with him we're able to believe. |
What do you like about Christmas? Being together with your family and singing Christmas songs. |
And what do you dislike? That not all people feel the same way about Christmas. |
What is the best Christmas present you've ever gotton? I don't really get presents for Christmas. |
Do you think Christmas should stay forever? Please explain your answer. Christmas will always stay, because it's the birth of Jezus. |
Person 2: Johan (Floor's father), 46 years old, not religious |
Sinterklaas survey |
Do you celebrate Sinterklaas? No. |
What is your opinion about Zwarte Piet? I don't have a problem with them. |
Do you think Sinterklaas should be abolished? Why or why not? No, because it's a fun celebration for little kids with presents. |
What is Sinterklaas about for you? Presents. |
How do you celebrate Sinterklaas? I don't celebrate it. |
Do you like Christmas or Sinterklaas better? Christmas. |
Christmas survey |
Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes. |
How do you celebrate Christmas? Giving presents to each other. |
What does Christmas mean to you? End of the year, sometimes winter/snow. |
When it's Christmas do you spend more money on making the world better? (for example charities) No. |
Is Christmas the most important celebration of the year? Why do you think so? No. |
What do you like about Christmas? It's holiday. |
And what do you dislike? Nothing. |
What is the best Christmas present you've ever gotton? I can't remember. |
Do you think Christmas should stay forever? Please explain your answer. Yes, because it's a fun holiday. |
Person 3: Mads (Jonah's brother), 15 years old |
Sinterklaas survey |
Do you celebrate Sinterklaas? Yes, I do. |
What is your opinion about Zwarte Piet? I think that regenboogpieten are the best option regarding teh Zwarte Piet discussion. |
Do you think Sinterklaas should be abolished? Why or why not? No, I can't think of any reason why that would be neccesary. |
What is Sinterklaas about for you? Self-made poems and presents. |
How do you celebrate Sinterklaas? We wright poems for each other and we buy presents for each other. |
Do you like Christmas or Sinterklaas better? Christmas |
Christmas survey |
Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes, I do. |
How do you celebrate Christmas? We have a Christmas tree. |
What does Christmas mean to you? Being surrounded bij family members and your loved ones. |
When it's Christmas do you spend more money on making the world better? (for example charities) No. |
Is Christmas the most important celebration of the year? Why do you think so? Celebrating Christmas is very fun, but I don't think it's the most important celebration anymore. |
What do you like about Christmas? The way people decorate their houses, lots of food and having that indescribable Christmas vibe. |
And what do you dislike? All the Christmas songs on the radio that never ends. |
What is the best Christmas present you've ever gotton? Probably a Donald Duck Pocketbook. |
Do you think Christmas should stay forever? Please explain your answer. I don't really have a particular opinion on this but I think it will stay for a very long time. |
Person 4: Shade (Eden's cousin), 10 years old, Christian |
Sinterklaas survey |
Do you celebrate Sinterklaas? No, I don't celebrate Christmas. |
What is your opinion about Zwarte Piet? I don't like it, because ir reminds people of slavery. |
Do you think Sinterklaas should be abolished? Why or why not? I don't think it should be abolished, but I do think it should be celebrated differently. |
What is Sinterklaas about for you? (didn't answer) |
How do you celebrate Sinterklaas? Sometimes I celebrate it with surprises, but usually I don't celebrate it at all. |
Do you like Christmas or Sinterklaas better? Christmas, for sure. |
Christmas survey |
Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes, every year. |
How do you celebrate Christmas? I always visit my family. |
What does Christmas mean to you? I really like this holiday, it's always a lot of fun. |
When it's Christmas do you spend more money on making the world better? (for example charities) I just make sure that everyone is having a good time, I don't spend money. |
Is Christmas the most important celebration of the year? Why do you think so? Yes, it celebrates the birth of Jezus and Christmas is jjust always a lot of fun. |
What do you like about Christmas? That everyone is enjoying it and that it's special, because it happens once a year. |
And what do you dislike? There is nothing to dislike. Accept washing the dishes after eating all the good food. |
What is the best Christmas present you've ever gotton? I don't know. |
Do you think Christmas should stay forever? Please explain your answer. Yes, it's the best day of the year! |
The conclusion we got out of all these questions is that most people like and celebrate Christmas more than Sinterklaas. Most of the people that we interviewed were Christian so that may be a reason why Christmas is more popular (Christmas is a Christian holiday), but Sinterklaas is known as an celebrations that is more common for little kids to celebrate so everybody above the age of about 8 years old don't really celebrate Sinterklaas. And if they do it's usually with presents that family members pick out for each other (kind of like Secret Santa). So the answer for the main question is that both of the celebrations are important, but that people like Christmas better than Sinterklaas, because it's the time of the year that you can get together with your loved ones and have fun. Sinterklaas is more a little kids celebration.
Communication
Our group had great communication with the group in India. We talked a lot with each other through the Watsapp group we had and we got to know a lot about each others country. We also talked about other stuff (we talked about movies, songs etc.), so it was a lot of fun! We also had a videoconference with India, which was also fun. It got postponed at first, because of Covid but evntually we had it. We hade to make a powerpoint which explained what we were doing with this project. We had to present it during the videoconference. Each member of our group made a dia in the powerpoint and Eden presented it. The presenting went pretty well and we got good answers on the questions we asked the people in India. We learned a lot about celebrations in India during this videoconference.