Slave Revolt at the North Pole
Amsterdam is getting ready for Christmas. And, as I am studying abroad, you would expect that I might be excited about witnessing the different cultural conceptions around such a universal holiday. Well, as usual, the Dutch have found a unique way of “flipping off” the rest of the “politically correct” world; religious holiday or not.
Their traditions are different in a sense that I nearly walked past a number of the large Christmas posters before realizing that they were festive decorations. I didn’t even bother to take note of the little old congenial man depicted, the Netherlands’s tradition of St. Nick, because he actually resembled a Catholic Bishop; complete with deacon’s hat and robes. However, I did stop, because of the African American man behind him. Not African American, but white. A white man, painted black, wearing a flamboyantly purple Renaissance Harlem suit.
Meet Zwarte Piet; Santa’s Servant. A Moorish inhabitant of Spain, this character comes over with the Jolly Man on a steam ship from the Iberian Peninsula. And he is depicted everywhere. Like the Netherlands don’t care that this is faintly reminiscent of… O’ I dunno… the Slave Trade. (Little black men, doing manual labor in sweet shops and toy factories around the country…At least in America we disguise our “little people” by giving them pointed ears and calling them Santa’s Helpers. My God, Santa’s servant. What Victorian age are we living in? )
Doing research (and believe me, this wasn’t known at the time, I just stood there and took it all in, thinking you all lied to me, and that Weed really does affect your brain): Zwarte Piet was a slave, freed by St. Nicholas, who then decided to stay on as a free servant. Second, folklore legends point to the idea that Peit may also have represented an a-sexual elf who carried a whip, and threatened naughty children. If you were afraid of Coal… well nowadays children have to look out for avenging Moorish slaves in feathered hats.
Don’t Worry! Children Today are told the truth. Zwarte Piet is Black because he slid down one too many chimneys.
www.awfulgood.com/doa-archives/000212.php
Their traditions are different in a sense that I nearly walked past a number of the large Christmas posters before realizing that they were festive decorations. I didn’t even bother to take note of the little old congenial man depicted, the Netherlands’s tradition of St. Nick, because he actually resembled a Catholic Bishop; complete with deacon’s hat and robes. However, I did stop, because of the African American man behind him. Not African American, but white. A white man, painted black, wearing a flamboyantly purple Renaissance Harlem suit.
Meet Zwarte Piet; Santa’s Servant. A Moorish inhabitant of Spain, this character comes over with the Jolly Man on a steam ship from the Iberian Peninsula. And he is depicted everywhere. Like the Netherlands don’t care that this is faintly reminiscent of… O’ I dunno… the Slave Trade. (Little black men, doing manual labor in sweet shops and toy factories around the country…At least in America we disguise our “little people” by giving them pointed ears and calling them Santa’s Helpers. My God, Santa’s servant. What Victorian age are we living in? )
Doing research (and believe me, this wasn’t known at the time, I just stood there and took it all in, thinking you all lied to me, and that Weed really does affect your brain): Zwarte Piet was a slave, freed by St. Nicholas, who then decided to stay on as a free servant. Second, folklore legends point to the idea that Peit may also have represented an a-sexual elf who carried a whip, and threatened naughty children. If you were afraid of Coal… well nowadays children have to look out for avenging Moorish slaves in feathered hats.
Don’t Worry! Children Today are told the truth. Zwarte Piet is Black because he slid down one too many chimneys.
www.awfulgood.com/doa-archives/000212.php