"Racist!" “Go back to your own country!” Hear who is knocking there children, the coziest party of the year is just around the corner. The heated discussion about Zwarte Piet is in full swing. However, this has little to do with history or cultural identity:Piet has been subject to change throughout his entire, short existence.
What happened that we in the Netherlands are at odds with each other over a made-up figure? I saw little harm in Zwarte Piet myself, but my image has been shaken by the stories of children with bad memories of this beautiful party.
So let's get away from the screaming adults:why do we celebrate a children's party where some of the children feel sad and hurt? Isn't it time to make everyone happy and give Piet the fairytale look he deserves?
Black from Zwarte Piet
Zwarte Piet was always just Zwarte Piet to me. Logically, I am white and grew up in a predominantly white village. But when I look at Piet now, I see the inevitable:especially with brown make-up, Zwarte Piet really does look very much like a Negroid man.
How easy is it to make someone look like a jerk when they get mad at a joke or a fairytale comparison? And even if Piet is no longer submissive, stupid and with a Surinamese accent, if it hurts children, black or brown make-up (recognizability) will miss its mark.
Sinterklaas is full of nostalgia, so it makes sense that many Dutch people do not want this to disappear. But that is not necessary at all. There is no child who likes Zwarte Pieten because they are black. It is precisely the specific character traits and qualities that make the Pieten fun and recognizable. The names of these Petes say enough and have supplanted the black from Zwarte Piet. Wegwijspiet, Muziekpiet, Cool Piet and the hilariously hysterical Pietje Panic.
What does science say?
The Sinterklaas party has been around for centuries, but the role and appearance of Saint Nicholas have often changed. Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet as we know them are a product of the nineteenth century, a period in which national history became very important. Historians then speculated a lot about common roots and ancestors. Their assumption that Zwarte Piet is descended from the ravens of Wodan or other Germanic gods is nonsense, but is still quoted.
Scientists know little with certainty about the origin of Zwarte Piet as a servant of Saint Nicholas, so that supporters and opponents of Piet beat each other up with different interpretations of the facts. Publicist Frits Booy – also a member of the National Sint Nicolaas Committee Foundation – emphasizes that Piet's appearance changed continuously until the Second World War, but that the servant of Saint Nicholas was never depicted as a slave.
But there is certainly also opposition:art historian Elmer Kolfin (University of Amsterdam) argued that the black pages or child slaves in paintings from the seventeenth century do indeed show similarities with our Zwarte Piet. John Helsloot (Researcher Party and Ritual, Meertens Institute) has done a lot of research into Zwarte Piet and calls the servant of Saint Nicholas originally racist.
In the nineteenth century there was nothing strange about a white Saint with a dark servant. But with a country getting more and more colorful, things started to feel a little uncomfortable here and there. The first protest came from white leftists in the 1960s, but had little effect.
Large-scale action only followed in 1993 when Amsterdam deployed colored Pieten at its entry. Despite the fact that the majority of the surveyed spectators thought this was a good initiative (Volkskrant, December 4, 1993), this trend has been little followed. According to John Helsloot, the main reason for this is the increasing popularity of Christmas. Celebrating Sinterklaas was out and more and more people replaced Sinterklaas for Christmas with presents in those years.
The new nationalism
Twenty years later, after 9/11 with the accompanying us-versus-them thinking, the fear of Islam and the popularity of Geert Wilders, we are massively embracing our traditions. The Saint is typically Dutch and the saintly man is more popular than ever. Proponents and opponents of Zwarte Piet are now hiding behind their own interpretations of the incomplete history of the Sinterklaas party and the heels are grimly in the sand. But whether or not Schenkman had racist ideas, Zwarte Piet was created in a period that was full of racist ideas, beliefs and laws by today's standards.
Traditions adapt to the times in which we live. What was completely normal and acceptable in the nineteenth century (animal cruelty for fun, slavery or anti-Semitism) now makes us blush. Piet has changed a lot since the first drawings in Schenkman's books. From a humble servant in the background, he transformed into a punishing educator who frightened naughty children with sackcloth and rod. In the sixties this was no longer acceptable from an educational point of view and Piet turned into a child-friendly prankster. Today, Piet is the indispensable right-hand man of a somewhat needy old boss, so it's not stupid boys and girls that Pieten…
The only thing that bothers him now is Piet's appearance. His outfit is not only the clothes of a dark page but inspired by clothes from the sixteenth century. There is nothing wrong with that without a dark color. Zwarte Piet is therefore no longer sustainable, especially in its current colour. Is that bad? Is that a denial of Dutch culture? No, in fact, it is misguided to see Zwarte Piet as an age-old Dutch tradition. It was invented in the nineteenth century and has changed in appearance and inward several times over the years. It's just time for a makeover .