From Wikipedia:
In the folklore and legends of the Netherlands and Belgium, Zwarte Piet (About this sound pronunciation (help·info)) (meaning Black Pete) is a companion of Saint Nicholas (Dutch: Sinterklaas) whose yearly feast in the Netherlands is usually celebrated on the evening of the 5th of December (Sinterklaas-avond, that is St. Nicolas Eve) and the 6th of December in Belgium, when they distribute sweets and presents to all good children.
Some sources indicate that in Germanic Europe, Zwarte Piet originally was such an enslaved devil forced to assist his captor, but the character emerged in the 19th century within the Netherlands as a companion of Saint Nicholas resembling a Moor.[1] Saint Nicholas is said to come from Turkey. The relation of Zwarte Piet with Haji Firuz is incredibly close, Haji Firuz is a traditional herald of Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebration, exactly black in the face and comes with Amoo Nowruz a white beared old man who brings gifts for the children counter part of Western Santa.
The introduction of this new Zwarte Piet was paired with a change in the attitude of the Sinterklaas character that was often shown as being quite rough against bad children himself and thought unbefitting of a Bishop by teachers and priests. Soon after the introduction of Zwarte Piet as Sinterklaas’ helper, both characters adapted to a softer character.[2]
Until the second half of the 20th century, Saint Nicholas’ helper was not too bright, in line with the old colonial traditions. Once immigration started from the former colonised countries Zwarte Piet became a much more respected assistant of Saint Nicholas, who is often a bit inattentive.[3]
According to the more modern Saint Nicholas legend, a Zwarte Piet is a servant who accompanies Saint Nicholas on his holiday travels. In some versions, it is alleged that Saint Nicholas once liberated a young slave named Peter, who decided to serve Nicholas (as a free servant) rather than enjoy liberty alone. Zwarte Piet is today commonly depicted as a black person in the colorful pantaloons, feathered cap and ruffles of a Renaissance European page, a tradition based on a single illustration in a book published in 1850.
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12 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.I’m from the Netherlands. When I was young, strange though it sounds, we never associated the ‘zwarte pieten’ with black people. At least at my home and school the story was that they are covered in soot from climbing down chimneys.
Looks weird now, though.
At some schools they paint the guys red/blue/green etc. because of racial context.
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I’m from the Netherlands as well and I remember it as stated above.
Not getting anything this year does make me want Saint Nick to be arrested by Interpol if possible. Just make up some charges and let him be waterboarded by all Zwarte Pieten.
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I haven’t seen Zwarte Piet around very much recently but he still shows up here and there, holding balloons beside Saint Nicolas. Never really minded him. I know Americans would freak out at the sight.
Anyway, it’s Saint Nicolas today, so tonight we’re having cougnous and hot chocolate. Wheee!
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David Sedaris’ “Six to Eight Black Men” is rather funny to read/listen, as it pertains to this exact subject. There are clips on the ol’ Tube of You.
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Relevant excerpt from David Sedaris’ “Six to Eight Black Men” from Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.
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I read an in-depth article years ago about the origins of Santa Claus and Zwarte Piet aka The Krampus. Apparently, if you travel from Northern Europe to the Balkans, and then up to Siberia you gradually find the origins of the myth and how it evolved into the modern Western Europe tradition. According to the article, the Santa Claus character was originally a medicine man of one of the aboriginal tribes that live around the arctic circle. Zwarte Piet, aka the Krampus was a bear. As their story goes, their tribe was starving one winter. Desperate for food, the hunters left the village to find something to feed their families. The hadn’t gotten far when a great bear attacked them and they were able to kill it with no casualties. The returned to their village with the bear and it sustained them through the last of winter. Because it saved their lives they took to celebrating the life of the bear with a ceremony they would re-enact for centuries to come: the white-bearded narrator would tell the story of the bear’s life and of how the bear came one winter and brought the gift of its flesh and fur to the starving tribe and took nothing in return. Different members of the tribe would dress up as these parts one being the narrator, one being the bear and others being the hunters. As outsiders viewed the ceremony -having no idea what they were looking at – the story evolved into Santa and the Krampus with his “helpers” And that is the origin of Christmas. Happy Bearsmas everyone!
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Much better are the ways they try to scare childeren for Sinterklaas. This year moviemakers finally dared to break the “mister niceguy” of Sinterklaas, with “Sint”. Where the saint comes back to murder and steal masses of children from Amsterdam… brilliant.
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And before I forget, the movie link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAA3NtXeXHU
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Holy shit!
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I had a gut feeling this was going to be a gathering of Dutch people.
Me, I grew up thinking Zwarte Piet was black because he had to crawl though chimneys and got soot on his face.
Kids are so naive.
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I was taught by by German teacher that schwarzer peter was a helper of sinter klaus who climbed down the chimneys. He wore black but wasn’t depicted as “black faced”.He was covered in soot though. He was also used to scare small children into being good. If you weren’t good schwarzer peter would come after you!
http://images.ravensburger.de/images/produktseiten/normal_h/20375.jpg
I always loved that Germans weren’t afraid of scaring the crap out of their kids to get them to behave. LOL.
I also loved the tradition that Germans have of hiding a pickle in the Christmas tree. Who ever finds it first get a present/get to open presents first/gets an extra gift.
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When I was a girl in Germany I was taught that Schwarzer Peter/ Saint Nicolas would come after the festival where we made laterns and walked the streets singing carols to ward off evil spirts and celebrate the Christ child. If I was good then St. Nicolas would come and bring me tangerines/apples/ nuts and maybe a toy. If I was bad Schwarzer Peter would come bringing switches and coal and if I had been very naughty he would take me away to an ophrage where I could not see my Mom and Dad again. We had prezels with sugar on them after the caroling.
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