December 5, 2010
WHY DOES THE BEARDED WHITE GUY HAVE TO BE FAT AND JOLLY?:
Racism controversy dampens Holland's Sinterklaas tradition (Deutsche Welle, 12/05/10)
For the Dutch, Sinterklaasavond (St. Nicholas Eve) on December 5 is the biggest celebration of the year - bigger than Christmas. That evening, families gather and exchange presents, and children leave out their shoes in the hopes that Sinterklaas will have fill them with candy by the next morning.
What seems like a harmless holiday devoted to gifts, candy, and children, has a catch: Sinterklaas' helpers, the Zwarte Pieten or "Black Peters," are portrayed according to degrading racial stereotypes.
They're typically dressed in 19th-century Moorish outfits, curly Afro wigs, and painted red lips. It is common for both adults and children to dress up as Zwarte Piet, complete with their faces painted black.
"Zwarte Piet is a person who is happy, who is the assistant of St. Nicholas, the first person who has contact with children and speaks with children," said Bert Jansen, a schoolteacher in Rotterdam who has organized the Rotterdam Sinterklaas parade for 10 years and also walks in the parade as the chief Zwarte Piet.
Indeed, nowadays the Zwarte Pieten are friendly characters that are clever and mischievous, and adored by children. Yet in the original Sinterklaas story, the Zwarte Pieten were slaves. Gradually, the tale evolved and they became Sinterklaas' helpers, but they were portrayed as being stupid and spoke broken Dutch with a Surinamese accent. They were also frightening figures: It was their job to punish misbehaved children by beating them.
Boots filled with sweetsBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Zwarte Piet help bring sweets to kids that have been goodIn an effort to tone down any racist implication, the story now says Zwarte Piet is black because they're covered in chimney soot. However, some say that explanation is unconvincing.
As opposed to the Santa Claus part of the story?
