Innocent Holiday or Reenactment of Slavery?
By Laura Bijnsdorp
In June Quinsy together with his friend Kno-Ledge started with his movement called: Zwarte Piet is Racisme (Black Pete is Racism). Surinamese and Antillean communities in the Netherlands have brought up the topic for years. It’s a touchy subject, because calling a part of Holland’s favourite Holiday tradition racist, is often met with insults and shocked reactions.
Sinterklaas, the largest holiday in Holland, is celebrated on the 5th of December. It is a family-orientated holiday, all about being together and exchanging gifts. It is seen mainly as a children’s holiday. On this day, Sinterklaas, a.k.a. Saint Nicholas, and his helper, ‘Zwarte Piet,’ (direct translation: Black Pete) come down the chimney to bring presents for the kids that live there. Every year there is a parade, where Sinterklaas and the ‘Zwarte Pieten’ make a grand entrance. Sinterklaas sits tall on a white horse while his helpers with black-painted faces share out candy to the kids on the sidelines.
About two weeks ago, I was sitting behind my computer on Facebook, when a video caught my attention. I saw a person being dragged through the crowd at the yearly ‘Sinterklaas’ celebration. Afterwards you see the person being held down, as one of them put a knee into his back. As I watched the video, of what was obviously (to me) excessive force by policemen, I realized I recognized the person who they were holding down. It was Quinsy Gario, a friend of mine who I know as a positive, at times too open, honest person. While watching the video I could not think of Quinsy having provoked the policemen, he fights for what he believes in, but always with his well-thought-out words, never with aggression.
After my initial worry and disgust passed, I tried to find out why they had been arrested. It seems that Quinsy, Kno-ledge and two students following their cause for journalistic reasons had gone to the parade wearing shirts that said 'Zwarte Piet is Racisme'. It was the first time I had seen this statement and thought to myself, ‘Quinsy, you are fighting a bit of a ridiculous cause, it's a children's holiday and there is no intention of racism.’ Intrigued by why Quinsy was claiming this, I ended up in his apartment engaged in debate. That is when he started by telling me the history of the holiday.
Saint Nicholas was a Greek bishop in the Middle Ages from a region that is now part of Turkey. As the centuries passed, the legends told of a second figure that travelled with the saint. At first this was a devil, depicting the good (Sint Nicholas) and the bad. In the 18th Century the remains of St. Nicholas were in a then Spanish City, which is why the tradition says that he comes from Spain. His helper at the time is black, a Moor, since at that time Spain was part of the Moor empire. At this time the celebration of Saint Nicholas spread throughout Europe. The festival moved to the city streets and became more lively.
The modern tradition of Sinterklaas as a children's holiday is first seen illustrated in the children's book, Sint Nicolaas en Zijn Knecht (Saint Nicholas and His Servant), written in 1850 by the teacher Jan Schenkman (1806–1863).
In Schenkman's version, the medieval figures of the devil, which later changed to Moorish helpers, were portrayed for the first time as black Africans and called Zwarte Pieten (Black Pete). He is a Negro boy who accompanies Sinterklaas and helps him on his rounds, derived from the Dutch colonial time.
Presently Sinterklaas has become a huge event. There are countless commercial items found depicting Zwarte Piet and many TV-stations cover the event. Many people dress up as Zwarte Piet across the Netherlands for the occasion, their faces blackened. The politically correct explanation of the black faces, nowadays, is said that it is black from soot from the chimney.
Afterwards I actually slowly starting to realize the link between Zwarte Piet and racism, and felt a bit dense for not seeing it sooner. Maybe my subconscious had found it easier, like so many, to ignore the obvious racism that the holiday depicted, by using excuses like the chimney and that it's just a children's holiday. Where else in the world could you paint your face black act as a servant to a tall white man on a white horse as a celebration? I realized how the tradition must look to other countries.
I was convinced: Zwarte Piet is racism, though I still wondered about the amount of people who actually felt this racism without knowing the history behind it.
Shortly after my history lesson with Quinsy, I attended a formal debate on the topic. The moment that it all became real to me was when the question was asked: Who has ever been called Zwarte Piet? About sixty percent of the room lifted up their hand, the other forty percent that did not raise their hand being the white audience, including myself. My friend next to me had lifted her hand as well, telling me afterwards that twice a child had called her Zwarte Piet, and both times the parents did not correct the child. It's just a child though and he/she means well, because they like Zwarte Piet.
I realized, seeing those raised hands, that a child does make a link between Zwarte Piet, the mischievous helper, whose current depiction stems from slavery, and a person of African descent. It’s not a very positive image. Every year people that know the history must look at a reenactment of colonial slave-times being celebrated. To some it might be an innocent children’s holiday but to others it must be painful having to smile as the country cheers on Sint Nicholas and his helpers.
The debate often also leads people to believe that Quinsy and other supporters are out to cancel the beloved celebration. This is not the case, they are just asking for the debate on Zwarte Piet and its history to be held nationwide, because after such a debate, facts are facts: Zwarte Piet is a racist element in a holiday that is supposed to be about family, love and togetherness. Why would a country said to be tolerant and multicultural hold on to that one element that excludes others? Numerous solutions were named in the debate I attended, but a solution can only happen after everyone has done their research. My solution is to have Sinterklaas come down off his high horse and share out the candy himself.
