* cababarant *

Monday, December 05, 2005

Zwarte Piet: Millenium minstrel?

Happy Sinterklaas!

So today is a big day for kids in Holland-- it's Sinterklaas, or what Americans know as the Feast of Saint Nicholas. For those who are unfamiliar with the whole thing, Sinterklaas is a Dutch tradition not unlike Santa Claus with a few cultural variations. Sinterklaas has the white beard, but he wears a bishop's robes rather than Santa's velvet suit. (I just now realized how tacky Santa's outfit is. I mean, velvet?!) Rather than driving a sleigh, he arrives in a boat from Spain (the origin of St. Nicholas is actually modern-day Turkey, but the Spain thing just seems to be part of the legend). Children in Holland leave their shoes by the fireplace on the eve of Sinterklaas so they can get toys and sweets (and my personal obsession, kruidnoten - delicious tiny gingersnap cookies). Sounds pretty much like Santa, right?

Except for one thing. Rather than elves, Sint delivers his gifts with the help of his sidekicks, all named Zwarte Piet. Collectively they're called Zwarte Pieten, or Black Peters. Zwarte Piet delivers the goods, and seems to almost outweigh Sinterklaas himself in representation during the holidays. What can't I deal with about Zwarte Piet? All the blackface. I don't think I've actually ever seen blackface in real life until I arrived in Holland a few weeks ago. And now I can honestly say I've seen hundreds of people in blackface. Why? They're dressed up as Zwarte Piet, of course. Not only are there tons of people in blackface (albeit throwing cookies, but STILL!) but the representation of Zwarte Piet is like those horrible Mammy and Sambo caricatures that existed in the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century. Because I'm American (remember how stupid Ted Danson was for appearing in blackface in 1993?), the whole thing is pretty offensive and disturbing. But why aren't the Dutch offended by it?

I don't think the reason is that Americans are overly sensitive about racism; the Dutch just don't have the same history in the Netherlands. Slavery was a far off island affair, and in the end, it's slavery on American soil that is at the heart of the American outlook on racism. Not to mention the 1920's tradition of blackface - based on bigotry and stereotype. I get the sense that the Dutch attitude is that Zwarte Piet is everywhere because "we love Zwarte Piet!" They culturally don't get what's wrong with the blackface, just like I don't get what's great about Zwarte Piet. The ridiculous thing is that Zwarte Piet doesn't have to be this offensive (even though his beginnings are incredibly offensive as well-- Sint's slaves). But if they must have Piet, how about an actual minority playing him instead of a white guy in blackface? He could even be cute, like in this book that I bought for the baby:

Piet looking cute and natural, a little bit like Franklin from Peanuts...

Rather than this:

Umm, NOT natural... and definitely not cute

Anyway, that's my Zwarte Piet rant - believe me, every American goes through this the first time. An Expatica columnist writes his American reaction to all the blackface (read: horrified, and calling the Netherlands out on all its so-called tolerance), and there is an annual debate regarding Piet on Expatica as well. Best of all, David Sedaris has a hilarious essay about Zwarte Piet (I'm guessing he didn't lay eyes on the blackface, because I'm sure he would have talked about it!) called "Six to Eight Black Men". It's a good primer on the sinister side of Zwarte Piet, who, if a child has been bad, throws him in a sack and takes him back to Spain with him. What I want to know is: where in Spain? Andalucia? Can I go too?

The Holland Ring: Sinterklaas - The Feast of Sinterklaas
Wikipedia: Zwarte Piet
Brownglasses.com: David Sedaris' essay, Six to Eight Black Men
Expatica: Zwarte Piet - a sinister symbol in a 'tolerant' country

posted by sheryl | 9:54 AM |

Comments: (4)

...not to be confused with Piet Zwart. :-)

http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm?id=D9901068-C762-11D4-A93800D0B7069B40
By Russ 9:51 PM

Sheryl, don't forget the part about Zwarte Piet hitting kids with sticks (an alternative to the Spain thing). Gotta love the idea of beating the holiday spirit into the wee ones...
By Martha Brockenbrough 10:16 PM

i conducted some focus groups in amsterdam a few years ago about ethnic identity in the netherlands and almost all of the afro-dutch subjects we interviewed listed zwarte piet as a huuge problem for them. there was a growing student movement back then, trying to get rid of it, but clearly piet is still here.

my friend and i had never heard of zwarte piet and seeing it everywhere stunned us. it kind of blew the image of amsterdam as this progressive utopia for us.

(came via jp at *you don't have to read*)
By ding 4:04 AM

Hello,

I'm probably going to get yelled at for trying to explain this in a coherent manner.

Zwarte Piet is a collection of a lot of different traditions. It is unfair to make comparisons between American Racial Stereotypes and Black Peter. They don't come from the same sources and it's rather a misunderstanding to connect him with the "Sambo" image that he resembles and which descends from him rather than the reverse.

If Black Peter had been Green Peter or Purple Peter people would "get" it much more easily.

1) Peter was NEVER an African Slave. Originally in the Medieval world St. Nicholas was accompanied by TWO followers one in White (Angel) and one in Black (Devil). The Angel's responsibility was to reward good children, the Devil's to punish the bad. The idea was both the carrot and the stick. If you are good you are rewarded, if you are bad you aren't.

We still threaten children with Coal in reference to this tradition.

Eventually the Angel was considered to be duplicating what Nicholas was doing and was done away with, but the Angel still can be seen the further east you go in Europe.
(See Kristkindl, though it's often attributed to Martin Luther)

Nicholas was the most popular saint of the Middle Ages, after the Virgin Mary and has the most dedications of churches after her. The connection that people felt for the 'Loving and Compassionate' Nicholas is shown in the constancy of the Santa/Giftgiver tradition.

2) The Devil as Slave. Because Nicholas was so good a human being, the people of the Medieval world believed that he had the power to bind the Devil on one day, his own feast day as a special favor. All other "Slavery" comments descend from a misunderstanding of this tradition.

The English were particularly prone to this mis-identification as Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Government tried and mostly succeeded in destroying every form of Christmas traditions in the British Isles. As a result, when Christmas became the Vogue in Victoria's time, there weren't a lot of "Native" English traditions left.

Many people felt the lack and a type of historical scavenger hunt was unleashed on Europe. Travel books, Seasonal books, Pseudo-Histories, and far too many more. Some good came out of these books, but there was hyperbole galore.

English Authors of the 19th Century were also prone to both exaggeration and a form of "Connect the Traditions". If they weren't sure, Victorian Authors made it up. Because Dickens helped restore the holiday to prominence, many individuals decided to make 'surveys' of Christmas traditions and the resulting mish-mash leaves many people scratching their heads.

3) The Spain thing. The Dutch had a massive war with Spain for years in the 16th and 17th Centuries. (Before Elizabeth I to after William and Mary) Because of the atrocities (See Hieronymus Bosch if you have questions) The Spanish became Equated with the Devil, hence Black Peter's costume with it's wide white ruff.

4) The Turkish Orphan/African Gentleman of means. St. Nicholas was a Bishop of Turkey. He was especially associated with children as the Protector of Orphans. A very special child would have been chosen to help Nicholas, the Angel of the earlier tradition. When the Angel was merged with the Saint, the role of honored special helper was continued by Black Peter. Instead of being a low, abused Slave, he would have been seen as a most Important person.

5) The Minstrel Show. The Black Face stereotype has origins both in the USA and in Europe. However, the racist aspect that the confusion/conflict is about comes as a descendant of Black Peter not the reverse.

Not helping this situation was the fact that the European Authors, usually English, doing all the research I mentioned used artists with the idea of racial superiority that became the "Sambo" ideal. Many had never seen a person of Colour until the Empire was at it's height and went with the information/expectations they had.

The Black face was supposed to mark Peter as Different, not human, but instead of being a slam, it was to acknowledge Peter as a Powerful force in his own right, Devil and Angel, not to identify him as African.

The Peter's non-human origin (Devil/Angel) made him like Santa's
other helpers into fantasy characters, Elves for example. The Cutesy Elves we see in American displays every year have little to do with the Elves in European traditions. All such magical beings were both helpful and dangerous at the same time.

Black was used because if he was from "Spain" he had to be a Moor and they were African. These are the descendants of the Chivalric Romances, the attempt to difference the "Other". Some one coming from far away might be said to be from Africa and thus of a dark skin.

Many of the most Honorable figures in Medieval Romances are from Africa.

Black face was supposed to show Peter as one of these powerful figures. Because New York was once New Amsterdam, the writers in America picked up the "Black Face" idea, equated it with Africans added their stereotypes and then all of this garbage that had nothing to do with Peter got transferred to the Stages.

It is interesting that you don't hear about Minstrel shows until after the Christmas rage had begun to settle down.

The Cartoon character created from the fusion of Christmas traditions into the cauldron of "Racial Superiority" was then adopted by idiots who believed that the African was lesser. They used this character to identify their own racial Stereotype. Peter existed before the image that was "Sambo" not the other way around.

It would be like making the Keebler Elf the symbol for any white group you hate.

It is the unfortunate tendency to take offense where none is truly intended.

Black Peter's Black face has been around so long as to be part of the cultural subconscious awareness. It's origins are buried deeply in tradition and heritage. The Dutch don't mean to give offense.

If I asked an American what Independence Day was all about, I'd get similar answers from people in Maine, Alaska, and Texas. There would be differences, but the same cultural mental furniture is the same.

If I asked the same Question about Bonfire Night in England, I'd get the same sort of response.

It's unfortunate that people Judge the Dutch racist because of an Image that existed before the stereotype. It's not to say that some Dutch are not racist. There are racists in every cultural and ethnic group in the world. No one escapes idiots, anywhere. But it is unfair to load all of this on the Dutch in general, because they don't get why you're upset.

Africans of Every Stripe have every right to be angry at the depiction, but they should try to understand that the White Dutch don't really have a clue what the problem is. Peter existed before the Sambo ideal so they don't get it.

Now the Dutch have their own racist history, see their history in Africa. But they don't get where the objectors are coming from. No way, No how.

There needs to be discussion, and listening on both sides. Demanding that the Dutch put this aside by people who haven't taken any time to do research is not an honorable or proactive way to deal with the situation. Just because something looks like something else doesn't mean that it's so.

Black Peter is a huge problem, both for those Offended and for those who just want to celebrate Christmas by their own customs and traditions.

Frankly some of the stuff I've read is just as offensive as "Sambo" is.

To be Offended requires the Will to be Offended.

Regards,
C.

I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side -- I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts.
Bethania McKenstry
By Anonymous 8:57 AM