Zwarte Piet
Christmas is celebrated in the Netherlands, but commercially it seems that Sinterklaas is the bigger deal. Sinterklaas is celebrated from mid-November when the man, Sinterklaas, arrives by boat from Spain until the gift-giving day of December 5 or 6 (in the case of Belgium). Sinterklaas is celebrated in the Netherlands and former Dutch colonies (Aruba, Netherlands Antilles), and Belgium, and according to Wikipedia, "many Roman Catholics of Alsatian and Lotharingian descent in Cincinnati, Ohio also celebrate 'Saint Nicholas Day'" on the 6th. Hmm, I didn't witness this in my four years there.
Tagging along with Sinterklaas, the basis of Santa Claus, is his helper Zwarte Piet, or Black Peet. Originally there was only one Zwarte Piet, but now there are multiple black helpers. Zwarte Piet can be cute, as depicted here by the supermarket chain C1000.
Here is Zwarte Piet holding up a chocolate number zero, chocolate letters (of the first letter of a child's first name) being a gift traditionally given for Sinterklaas.
But then you see live action Zwarte Piet. Now he's black not because he's a Moorish boy from Spain, but because he's plucked from a minstrel show. Not cute anymore.
And he is everywhere.
Here's a Zwarte Piet minstrel, I mean, marching band. The one on the left is giving the little girl some candy from his bag, one of Zwarte Piet's tasks. This picture was taken at my local shopping mall, along with all of the other pictures in this post.
Even at the Albert Heijn there were Zwarte Piets waiting at the entrance and roaming the aisles. This was my first encounter with a live one, and yes, it's hard to see them in this picture because yes, they really are that black. You get a prize if you can distinguish three Zwarte Piets below.
The Albert Heijn Zwarte Piets were really friendly, since even I got some free candy from their sack! In fact, two of them kept piling more and more in my hand. Their rewards for being a good boy this year were pink and white sugar candies in the shape of presents and Zwarte Piet and Sinterklaas himself, kruidnoten which are the dome-shaped ginger snaps, and fun size bags of peanut M&Ms.
