#source photos are all made by my aunty I.
Today we celebrate SINTERKLAAS so my fouroclocky is about this typical Dutch celebration.
Sinterklaas. It is one of the first things that Dutch people mention when you ask about something typically Dutch. Simultaneously, it is amongst the most ill-explained celebrations abroad. And every year, there is the ongoing discussion on whether it is racist or not. This week, even the United Nations decided to get involved. Some clarifications.
What is it?
Sinterklaas is a childrens festival, celebrated in The Netherlands and Belgium on December 5th. Already in November, Sinterklaas comes from Spain in his steamboat called ´Pakjesboot 13 (present boat 13)´ with many helpers, called ´Zwarte Pieten´. On this boat, they transport many presents for all children who behaved well throughout this year. Once arrived on the mainland, Sinterklaas gets off the boat to ride his white horse. The horse is loved by many kids aswell .
Every night ( well not in my household though ) until December 5th, children put their shoes near the chimney in the house, sing songs and leave behind food for Amerigo, the horse of Sinterklaas. If they are lucky, Sinterklaas will pay a visit and surprise them with presents in their shoes. But the children never see Sinterklaas, as he is on the roof, together with Schimmel and Zwarte Piet. Zwarte Piet is the one to go down the chimney to make sure the right present ends up in the right shoe.
On December 5th, Sinterklaas visits many children in their house. The kids may then thank Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet, and get a lot of candy and more presents. On December 6th, Sinterklaas returns to Spain.
Is Sinterklaas the Dutch Santa Claus?
Absolutely not. This is the most common misconception about the holiday. Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are two separate persons and are both acknowledged in The Netherlands. Although present-giving during Christmas is becoming increasingly popular, Santa Claus as a personality really cannot compete to Sinterklaas. There are very persistent stories where Santa Claus was based on the image of Sinterklaas, when Coca Cola personified him for marketing purposes. Also the name Santa Claus derived from Sinterklaas´ full name Saint Nicolaas. So if anything, Santa Claus could be considered the American Sinterklaas.
Today we had a Sinterklaas visit and the children were so happy, every year the arrival is a different thing, this year he was a package brought to the children with a van.
What is the origin of Sinterklaas?
According to the legend, Saint Nicolaas was a bishop who lived in Myra, the present-day Demre in Turkey, around the year 300. As he cared for the poor, it broke his heart to see that a man with three daughters had no money to support them, let alone pay their dowry. His only choice was to send them into prostitution. The story goes that Saint Nicolaas wanted to prevent this, and threw money through the window, accidentally ending up in a shoe. Sinterklaas has been celebrated for ages, in many different ways. The modern festivities are in school with the teacher And at home with the family.
Why are the ´Zwarte Pieten´ black?
Although Zwarte Piet was only introduced in 1850, there are two most popular explanations for Pete´s colour. According to the first story, Saint Nicolaas the bishop of Myra bought an Ethiopian slave and set him free. The second story tells how the ´Pieten´ are black because of soot. After all, they have to go down chimneys to get the presents to the children. The latter version is increasingly being told, especially since the discussion on racism has started to grow.
Is Sinterklaas racist?
There are people who find Sinterklaas a racist celebration, because they find that Zwarte Piet is portrayed as a dumb helper of a white boss. To some groups, this represents slavery or the regard of black people as an inferior race. The discussion has been taking place on an annual basis since the 1960´s, but never really hit ground. Until this year, when even the United Nations decided to establish a taskforce to study whether or not the celebration is racist. Already before the investigation has begun, taskforce leader Verene Shepherd shared her personal opinion that Sinterklaas should be abolished and that ´one Santa Claus´ should be enough. These comments were received with astonishment in The Netherlands, given that this severely provides the impression of a biased investigation, and the fact that Shepherd was clearly not informed about Sinterklaas and Santa Claus as being totally different to each other.
Most Dutch people do not know where the discussion is coming from. To most, Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet were a magical and care-free part of their childhood, which they would like their children to experience in the same way. Zwarte Piet is an essential part of the story, making the celebration lively and fun. Hardly any child sees Zwarte Piet as something negative, let alone that they make the connection to slavery or seeing non-whites as inferior races. Even adults never made the connection before the discussion started to mount. Surprising detail: In Belgium, where the celebration is identical, the discussion does not take place at all.
Whats next ?
Prime minister Rutte stated last week that ´Zwarte Piet is black because of the soot´, that ´Zwarte Piet is black and I can’t help that´, and that it is ´a matter of society, not government´. However, Shepherd´s call to stop Sinterklaas altogether urged a delegation of the government that is currently visiting New York, to take action. They request clarification from Shepherd about her early conclusions.
Sinterklaas is a fun night in The Netherlands, so also for me! Maybe i will be online later tonight but now its presents time and all lovely snacks. Here is a video of today, that i received from another mother while at work.
This is me when ran into two zwarte pieten in Rotterdam.
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Does the soot curl up his hair too?
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No we got straight hair pieten aswell and a bold one. And there is also soot wipe Piet. And why this scary dinosaur hahahahah it’s 6 December thank god on to chrisMas celebrating
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That’s the philosopher dinosaur 😂
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Tell him to cut his nails hahahah
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great blog brit, the story of saint Nicholas is new to me. Yeah I know he's a bishop but thag racist thing and money changes into shoes were out of my knowledge. How lovely watching kids that enjoying it like us before when we were just kid also..I notice you're into blogging now, you have lot of images that you've shared..you inspired me brit.. 🤗.
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Its a celebration indeed, maybe the story has more explanations but i watched kids having fun with Candy and all one present thats the most important. I want to stay clear of the racist issue and think whatever piet is fine. And indeed i am a daily blogger and use my own pictures to prove i am real
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Thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Sinterklaas traditions in your region @brittandjosie, yes Santa Claus was popularized by Coke-Cola, as marketing ploy in the 1920 - 1930's, but did not originate with them, original remains St. Nicholas from western Christian lore since before 1773.
How sad it now boils down to a colour based opposition, much like Enid Blyton Noddy books having to be altered to be more PC (politically correct). Or is it more along the line of sales, marketing, perhaps corporate vs church, I actually find people more confused just trying to keep a cultural past.
Keep enjoying life, sharing stories and having some fun, life is too short to become embroiled in sexism, racism, snobbery and xenophobia that pops up everywhere of late.
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Amen, its true its a festival months for everybody and its not nice that people think this Harms people with a color. Well my boys loved their day and had 1 smell present and we bought a present for the rally by the second hand store for a kid that didnt get a present. That was all on to the next festivities. I thank you for your nice comment and i didnt know coca cola was responsabel for the popularised emplacement of santa Claus
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Enjoy the festive season with the children, they are young for such a short period, life is short, so keep having fun!
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This is very interesting. I did not know some of the details of the celebration or the racist diatribe around it.
From here we see Santa Claus as a derivation from Saint Nicolas. But we are this closed from sending all these celebrations into oblivion, since people can't afford any of it. Hopefully you won't get our solution to the sinterklaas problem :)
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Thanks for sharing this!!! 😊😊
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Yes typical dutch
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It's all happening now, the festive time is here..
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I love it , and time to reflect
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Interesting, we have a Black Peter (Черен Петър) character, too. A chimney sweep.
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Its a festival day and although many might think black and white is an issue here its not , the kids had a wonderful day on to all the celebration this month
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I'd say it 's probably a given that either the whole thing gets banned, or the story gets changed to remove any and all references to the Zwarte Pieten, or the whole thing is so stained by the Zwarte Pieten being part of the original story that it all must be banned.
People need to learn there's only one white man in the whole world that is allowed to have worn black face with no repercussions, and that man is Ralph Northam, governor of Virginia, U.S.A.
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WoW thats harsh, , we have black, white, wipe on the face and all nationality and LGBTQ pieten, , this is not racial thing its a celebration, i dont know Ralph and only one white man? Thats maybe to narrow minded.
Its a celebration month try to be cheerful, i didnt see or heard ANY negative tone yesterday so i want to remember those laughing faces, but i appreciated a comment as usual.
Have a great friday
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I probably should've added a little context to my comment. In America there's quite a bit of hypocrisy over the people that have been caught wearing blackface in their pasts. For some it's Ok, but not for others.
White people being discovered having worn blackface at some point in America, is seen today as the epitome of being racist, which is probably pretty spot on here in America.
Nearly every time someone gets discovered and called out for it, they either get fired, or are forced to resign if they are in the public eye, and especially if they're in politics, but some are allowed to get out of their lack of responsibility if they have certain affiliations.
Ralph Northam is the governor of Virginia. It was discovered that he had had his picture snapped and put in the college yearbook while wearing blackface to a party. He admitted that it was indeed him, but said he was sorry. Saying "sorry" doesn't usually work very well, but it does for him.
There's hypocrisy and a huge double standard occupying the Virginia governor's mansion.
He remains governor while having been caught doing what a lot of people say is one of the most racist things white people can do, and after being asked to resign by many and refusing.
I saw a similarity in what your government is trying to do in banning your traditional Christmas story connected activities because they tend to blow everything up out of proportion, as like you mentioned, the head guy wants to ban your whole traditional celebration over a misunderstanding.
I thought everyone in the world probably knew about what I brought up, (even in other countries), but I'm sorry for referring to it in a comment to your post. I probably could've conveyed my message better without bringing Ralph up. :)
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I read sarcasm in @free-reign's comment :)
In my comment i was actually going to say something along the same lines. With all the political correctness issues, it would not be surprising if you get a black Sinterkaas and a white helper or a bunch of assistants of different races so that noone feels excluded or discriminated.
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OMG! LOL I didn't even think of him.
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I love your post, as I would like to be in that place, I love Christmas.
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I love your post, as
I would like to be in that
Place, I love Christmas.
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Thanks for the explanation of the two celebrations.
The racism thing is getting out of hand and all the complaints are ruining this lovely tradition.
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I learned something! I knew that Sinterklaas was based on Saint Nicholas, but never knew he was different than Santa Claus! Thanks for explaining that and telling us about the other things, too! 😊
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Oh my word @brittandjosie, another celebration with issues. Goodness! Thanks for the great explaination about the history of the holiday. Enjoy!
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Saint Nicolaas maravilloso un compartir muy lindo, de pequeña me encantaba San Nicolas @brittandjosie
Saint Nicolaas wonderful a very nice sharing, as a child I loved San Nicolas @brittandjosie
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So you celebrate it to?
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yes of course it is a nice celebration this detail thank you @brittandjosie
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Happy Christmas
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Shuvo did you reed the blog its not christmas?
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Er zat een briefje in mijn schoen deze ochtend
Dat was het dan weer dit jaar...ben ik dan weer niet braaf geweest?
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Nee VEGA is the bomb dit jaar hahahah
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Didn't you get the memo @brittandjosie, everything is racist. Beautiful post! 💕
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Hope that the children enjoyed the party my friend.
At Papillon, we work with all colors and not one race is more important than the others, bur sadly not everyone thinks like this and one can certainly never please everybody.
Blessings!
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Yeah, people will find a reason to be offended about most anything. Their offence offends me. Interestingly, I don't see much of a discussion about why Jesus Christ is usually portrayed as having white skin, when he most likely did not.
Regardless, the celebration surely sounds like a fun one! And the costumes are terrific. Sinterklaas knows how to dress!
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Abolished? As in made illegal? That's absurd.
Enjoy your holiday. Thank you for the excellent explanation of it.
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Perhaps the government needs to be focusing on the more important things in life rather than their ill-thought-out problem of racism where there is none.
I hope they leave well enough alone and keep the tradition intact.
Have a great day!
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What a fun tradition! I hope it all gets resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, although it’s really hard with hot button issues that tend to get people emotional.
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Wow never knew there is a December 5 celebration in Holland. Growing up in Holland means getting more presents which is awesome.
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Hi @brittandjosie. Thanks for sharing your post about the celebration in your country for the children and the background of the tradition.
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seems like a fun time for the kids... maybe it is just me but i am sick of everything getting turned into something racist all the time. He's black because of the soot is all that needs to be said. It makes me upset that traditions are being eliminated because of a few people getting butthurt.
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Happy line up
Legend is that Santa was the missionary Nicholas
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