Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pieten – Mourad

During my stay in Amsterdam a few years ago, I saw many strange things. The red light districts, the coffee shops (not the ones in Canada), the Sex Museum, the Hash Museum and the Torture Museum were exceptionally outré. But the most bizarre experience I had was on the fifth of December when I attended the Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) parade for the first time. It was a cold and gloomy morning in downtown Amsterdam. A friend asked me to join them to watch the Santa Claus parade and so I did. We headed to the Koninklijk Paleis (the Royal Palace) and waited on Dam Street for about 20 minutes. Santa finally appeared in his usual silky red cloak and sharp white beard. He was riding a glorious white horse and accompanied by Dutch adults who had blackened their faces and wore afro wigs and thick red lipstick. As the caravan was approaching, the kids were yelling with great enthusiasm: Kijk, zwarte Piet! (Look, Black Peter!). I quickly scanned the crowd looking for any black people and there were few with their children. I glanced at my African-American friend and saw confusion in her eyes.

I was struck not only by the fact that St. Nicholas’s helpers were white Dutch with blackened faces, but also by the Moorish style of their costumes. The scene was too complex that it instigated in me an old curiosity for semiotics. I went home and did some internet research to find most stories agree that Sinterklaas is about the triumph of good over evil. I also learnt that the black servant is of Moorish descent and symbolizes Islam’s submission to Christianity. St Nicholas lives in Spain and comes to Holland every 5th of December. I thought of the long constructed European image of rationality, maturity, morality, civilization, etc. and saw that St. Nicholas represents everything Black Peter does not. Now things are getting even more complicated.

My Dutch friends said Sinterklaas is merely a festive day in which children receive presents from Santa and enjoy a special moment of bonheur. Parents often tell their kids that Black Peter is black because he goes up and down the chimney delivering Santa’s gifts. But they also tell them if they are naughty, Zwarte Piet will put them in his large sack and take them back with him to Spain. Really, Spain! Medieval Spain where the sciences and arts thrived until the subjugation of Granada by Isabella and Ferdinand in the late 15th century!

Sinnterklaas is deeply rooted in the Dutch tradition to such an extent that it has become impossible to include another character other than Black Peter. During the first week of every December, the picture of a black face with big ruby lips occupies almost every corner of Amsterdam’s public space: in souvenir shops, on the packages of a variety of produce and as pastry, and especially on TV. A two-minute satire showed Black Peter as purchasable robot (slave) that cleans, cooks, brings the mail, polishes shoes, etc. Of course the show was meant to be critical of the tradition, but I wonder how the Surinamese would react to this type of ‘humor’—especially that Surinam was colonized by the Dutch for more than three centuries; a long time of abuse and exploitation.

In defense of Sinterklaas, some argue that it is an innocent tradition designed for kids to have fun, and thus is free from any ideological baggage that it might have had in the past. But is there such a thing as an innocent tradition? Is Sinterklaas not also about being Dutch; in this case being white and Christian? Sinterklaas combines both racial and religious aspects, and I think that is what makes it highly problematic. The debate of identity has already taken some exorbitant curves in the last few years.

The tradition of Sinterklaas is increasingly stirring up controversy both inside and outside the Low Lands. The Dutch are split up between those who champion Sinterklaas the way it has traditionally been celebrated, and those who call to reform it (like replacing Black Peters with rainbow-colored Peters). While more Surinamese immigrants are finding the tradition laden with racist symbolism, the government hasn’t been very responsive. I thought Moroccans too will be concerned about this issue, but not quite. Most of them think it is all about racism against the blacks. Very few know that the image of St. Nicolas as master and Black Peter as a Moore servant is part of a long established discourse of Christianity’s triumph over Islam.

What makes people cling to a tradition that has racist traces even after they know about it? In a broader European contemporary context, what makes over 50% of the Swiss vote to ban building more mosque minarets, while there are only four minarets in the entire country? Why is the Spanish parliament still split up over whether the government should apologize to the persecuted and expelled Muslims or not, (after they have already apologized to the Jews)? What makes a Spanish judge expel a lawyer from the court simply because she was wearing the hijab? What are the real motivations behind the White Christmas campaign in Northern Italy?

Now I am getting really confused!