Hannah Lunt

Dance and Culture

12.20.15

The culture I am going to study is dutch. However the lady I interviewed is indonesian
raised in Holland who then moved to America. I picked her because her culture experience is
quite different, seeing as she is one ethnicity, raised in a different culture then moved to another.
Both of these cultures have appealed to me. Asia culture in all its variety, they have little to no
Christian background which is pretty different from America. Holland and all of Northern
Europe and their ability to be so peaceful. Both these traits have always drawn me to these
cultures, I have been so fortunate to find someone of both cultures. The close family friend I
interviewed has done a well job at keeping both her Indonesian heritage as well has her dutch.
Often when our families get together we ask her questions about her different backgrounds so I
knew a lot of the answers to the questions but she is always happy to talk about her different
cultures.
This lady I interviewed is Indonesian by heritage and was born in Indonesia, but shortly
after her birth her father's work needed to move him. She told a funny detail regarding this, with
the move he had the choice of two places; Holland or New Zealand. He chose Holland. She said
her siblings and now children often say how cool it would be if they had moved to New Zealand
rather than Holland. So her family moved to Holland when she was very young, she does not
have any memories of Indonesia. She grew up speaking Dutch and went to school in Holland.
Her family kept some Indonesian traditions with them, but embraced most of the Netherland
customs. She still speaks Dutch and all her kids do. They have dutch artifacts and souvenirs in
there home and cook more Dutch food than Indonesian food. She considers herself Dutch more

than Indonesian. Coming and Living in America has obviously brought some changes for her,
she had to learn English and American customs.
In her family the father is the provider for his family. The father always sat at the head of
the table when eating dinner as a family. The mother took care of the children and housework.
Children also helped provide small housework. Children also worked on their school studies.
In The Netherlands it is acceptable to begin drinking at age sixteen. But they do not drive
until they are twenty one. They love to party. Most of this is common within the bigger cities but
if you were to travel more to the rural and countryside of Holland that would not be as
acceptable. More Christians and farmers live there. Aside from this specific lady I interviewed,
she had a foreign exchange student from Holland come live with them. This girl was my age and
not a Christian like this lady. She lived in more of the city area. She told me how a typical
weekend for her was filled with Smoking, going to a bi party and getting drunk. And how it was
totally acceptable to come home to your parents with a boy and have him spend the night with
you. But the lady I interviewed lived in the outskirts and was Christian and did not participate in
those things.
Holland or the Netherlands speaks Dutch. It depends on what part of the country you are
from when you say the name of the country. The lady I interviewed calls it Holland while her
foreign exchange student calls it The Netherlands, when she says it it sounds like she says
Nederlands. The closer to the border of Holland and Belgium you get the more mixed the two
languages become and they have a different accent. She said that people who live in Holland and
are fluent in Dutch when they travel there cannot even understand these people because the
dialect is so different. English is taught in all schools now and is a requirement to graduate high
school. But was not the case back when she was living in Holland. She learned English before

moving to America. All the people of Holland are very accepting, Women are not seen as less
and have no language barriers, such as needing permission by men to speak and such. Anyone is
allowed to speak even children, but they are taught good manners and what is appropriate to say.
In The Netherlands food is bland. Potatoes, cabbage and pea soup with meat such as
bacon or sausage. Ironically the Indonesian rice table came from the Dutch. Once I went to their
house for breakfast, they made a pastry cake in a skillet for us. It was much like a pancake but
much smaller so you eat more. And they put different things on them such as jam, peanut butter,
chocolate, bananas and other fruit. They also make one of my most favorite desserts/pastries.
Two really thin cookies that look like waffles with sweet caramel in the middle. They taste best
hot and fresh but are really good any time of the day and are definitely their favorite treat. She
mostly keeps to the Dutch food in her home with her family and usually prepares Dutch food for
guests but makes Indonesian food once in awhile. Just recently she made us an Indonesian treat.
She takes chunks of pineapple, puts it in some batter and fries it in oil. Its much like a scone but
has pineapple in it.
Traditional Dutch clothing is mostly black with some color such as red or green on
womens bodice and men's hats. Womens skirts got longer with age. This is no longer worn in
Holland, only for special culture events. Typical clothing is now worn amongst the Dutch people.
Christianity and Jewish are big religions in The Netherlands. Typically the hollidays from
these two religions are celebrated. Christmas Day is much quieter with a Church Service and
family meal. Sometimes there is a special Christmas Day 'Sunday School' in the afternoon at the
church, where the Christmas Story is told. These are often the only presents children will get on
Christmas Day because they have already received most of their presents on St. Nicholas Day.

St. Nicholas Day is December fifth and is when St. Nicholas or Santa brings the children their
presents, that is why Christmas day itself is more focused on the spiritual part.
Coming to America was hard for this lady. She met her husband while he was serving an
LDS mission in The Netherlands. Her parents did not want her to move away from them.
Coming to America to marry him she found his parents werent to excited about him marrying
her either, it was a mix between his parents not knowing her and maybe a bit of ethnicity
difference, but now have accepted her into their family. Coming to America she has not faced
much discrimination. Her children have often told me stories of teachers mistaking them as
Mexicans in their class. Her youngest daughter had one incident when a teacher asked her a
question regarding her ethnicity making it clear he thought she was mexican. When she tried to
correct her teacher, telling him she was not Mexican but Indonesian he brushed it aside and still
expected answers to his question. This was the most severe case, most of the time when they let
people know they are Indonesian and not Mexican people quickly apologize and switch to ask
them questions about their Indonesian heritage.
A lot of this stuff surprised me. I loved trying the foods. But it was interesting to hear
how the Dutch accepted her and her family and think about how that may have been different
had they been moving to America. I did not know they struggled with people getting their race
wrong. Learning about their customs and what is acceptable amongst teenagers and
understanding the differences between us. It was valuable to me to learn from her that you can
stay true to your heritage or pick a new one or both. She completely considers herself Dutch and
this taught me an important lesson: you dont have to die what you were born in. And that goes
for anything.