Instagrams Of The Netherlands’ "Black Pete" Christmas Tradition
The Netherlands’s holiday celebrations include dressing up as Zwarte Piet, St. Nick’s servant.
Traditional Dutch folklore about St. Nick includes his servant called Zwarte Piet, or “Black Pete”. December 5th is Sinterklaas, the St. Nicholas feast day, and some pageants, parades, and parties include people dressing up in a Zwart Piet costume. The origin stories of Black Pete vary a bit, so the reason for his blackface depiction is either that he’s a Spanish Moor or he is covered in soot from going down a chimney.
There’s been debate in The Netherlands about whether or not Zwarte Piet’s depiction is racist, but many Dutch see the character as a beloved part of a holiday tradition. Here are some Instagrams of this week’s festivities:
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- clarahg Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q...
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- That Design Bastard Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q...
- CeciliaMarino75 Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... and thinks it’s Trashy & OMG
- matthewa8 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Win
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- susanschmlzr thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- robertdanielmckinnonj Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q...
- aMAEzing! thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Fail, Trashy & WTF
- Mokamommmy thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is OMG
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basvanderg 5 months agoAmaaaazing…. The ‘looks like a duck, quacks like a duck’ bullshit some of the politically correct self-proclaimed guiding lights of ethics manage to post here. Ever occurred to you that if all you know is ducks, you will call everything remotely birdish or quackish a duck? Get your heads out of own asses and investigate with an open mind before passing instant judgment, based on your limited view.
And in case you find yourself having difficulties valuing a tradition in its own context, maybe you should consider getting a proper education that teaches you *how* to think, not *what* to think.
(Might be scary though) -
- suziegk thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- beckyc3 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is OMG
- s thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- gingerska Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... and thinks it’s WTF
- Julianna95 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Trashy, WTF & Fail
- SyreneStrife thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Meh
- ashley king thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- PeaceNine thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Fail
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gcs3 5 months agoYea based on the Wikipedia background it is racist. It’s not depicting a man in soot, that’s just a more recent excuse. It was originally a slave. Later it became a freed slave that stayed with Saint Nicholas. Either way it’s blackface. He’s supposedly a bit inattentive and mischievous, though well-meaning. Their not only looking like blackface, they are depicting the same stereotypical personalities of blackface. Just because you have the better part of a whole country that doesn’t recognize that one of their traditions is racist, does not mean it’s not racist.
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- pattieq Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... and thinks it’s Fail
- kaoriz thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is LOL
- amadorlicea Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... and thinks it’s WTF & Fail
- vank thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Cute
- bullardkay thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is LOL
- alvina3 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Fail & WTF
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cap_gun_girl 5 months agoWell, they are being ignorant to another cultures traditions. Americans are putting their culture first believing the Dutch to be wrong. So yes. If they are being ignorant and assuming it is racist when it is not it won’t hurt to educate them.
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cap_gun_girl 5 months ago
It only offends because of the lack of cultural understanding and the assumption that American culture is more important than the Dutch the culture. Americans are only offended because they are ignorant, if they knew better they wouldn’t be upset and here is a chance for some to learn about a culture and Christmas tradition that differs from the standard American one. It is only racist those who are ignorant.
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- carc Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... and thinks it’s Win & Cute
- erikba thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- shannon thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is LOL
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kitcatattack 5 months agoI’ll let David Sedaris explain the Netherlands’ interesting Santa Claus traditions, via his essay “6 to 8 Black Men”
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- alexjewell thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Fail
- Kelleah thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- jms89 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Fail & Trashy
- tenten thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is LOL
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A. P. 5 months agoCultural relativism is quite real, even with photographs on the internet. That you view something in your own home doesn’t mean that the rules in your own house or culture apply to what you’re seeing. I’m of the opinion that, in general, if you come to know of a behavior that offends you by searching the internet it’s a little hard to argue that it’s affects you.
And if you do feel that it affects you, then learning more about the culture in which it exists might make you less offended. Again, generally speaking. -
- CameoLover93 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- rmadams thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF & Fail
- benr11 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Fail & WTF
- sharpasabutterknife thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Ew, WTF & Fail
- DramaticallyGiles thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- PsychedelicSoulPizza thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is LOL, OMG & WTF
- ericia thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Ew
- Megan Gilchrist thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is OMG & Fail
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rgrogers42 5 months ago
It’s not racist, its a tradition, and strangely Americans forget that there are other countries other than the USA, and in these countries there are traditions and quirks which are different. Nothing wrong with black face in traditional settings. Lots of black face for bonfire nights
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cap_gun_girl 5 months ago
Your ignorance is hilarious. It is not harmful and it is coincidental to blackface. Let the Dutch do as they please. If you want to bitch about this than why not also target the Spanish whose priests occasionally bare a resemblance to the KKK. But then again, being an American and using your past to dictate what another culture can and can’t do sounds a littler moronic too.
- miguelm5 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Trashy
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Maanu 5 months agoStill looking for the tangible benefit to blacks of multiculturalism/western globalization, other than getting some crumbs of our stolen sandwich back. Zwarte Piet or the N-word is offensive only because blacks are subject to even knowing about it. Black folks, remember that it wasn’t our choice to be around these people and their unique “regard” for you & yours.
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- alexanderq thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
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- brittanyw8 Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q...
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vank 5 months agoBlack people are slaves and whites are slavekeepers, that picture is simple and clear in the USA. The Zwarte Piet in the Dutch imagination is a bit different though. Piet traditionally holds a rod to whip children who do not behave, and he carries the sack of Saint Nicolas. In the sack he keeps the presents but the story goes he will put naughty children in it and take them to Spain. So Piet’s attributes, one could argue, are those of a slave catcher. History shows us black slave catchers did exist. Dutch colonial history has stories of dealings with those. On the other hand Dutch *local* history has numerous stories about Dutch sailors being captured and kept as slaves in Northern Africa. The simple picture of blacks as slaves and whites as slavekeepers is historically not necessarily correct in the Dutch context. Holland is not the USA. Sinterklaas is not Santaclaus. Santaclaus is modelled around 1930 after Sinterklaas for an USA commercial of Coca Cola. Probably the company must have had the idea their lemonade will not be sold well by a Zwarte Piet.
It’s the USA folks….
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- octaviad thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- honeybeec thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- luckygirl777 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF & LOL
- AniRayne33 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- xsmall thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Old, Cute & LOL
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CK828 5 months ago
i just came back from amsterdam where i saw many “black petes”. being an american i too was taken aback. but then i saw a few black dudes donning the black makeup to be “black pete”. so is black face bad when a white person does it but okay if a black dude wears black face? honestly i saw no one taking offense to it… aside from the internet, at least
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cap_gun_girl 5 months ago
You saw no one taking offence to it because you were in Amsterdam. You are seeing people freak out on the Internet because many Americans frequent this site and lack understanding of other cultures :c
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- emilyv5 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Fail
- nothingxbutxpoison thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is Win
- riri Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... and thinks it’s WTF & Ew
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- Nathansgirl thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
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- MichelleisMario Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q...
- AHIMSAWORLD thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF
- laurens39 thinks Instagrams Of The Netherlands' &q... is WTF, Ew & Trashy
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victorialillianl 5 months agoSeriously as a black person, I don’t care what people in the Netherlands do.
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mirandascott 5 months agoI don’t care about this being cultural and all. I just wanted to let you know I watched Dwight dress up as Stinkerklaas on The Office last night.
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Sami M. 5 months agoI’m African American and I’m not offended by this because albeit strange (to me an American) their tradition seems to come from a loving place rather then hate so I say carry on and let’s not make this a big deal. If black people from the Netherlands are offended by this than that’s a whole different thing. I’m not gonna be offended by something I don’t know anything about.
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Anarchasis 5 months ago
I love to see you guys get all culturally relativist. Who would want to impede on the sacred right of white Westerners to be racially insensitive? It’s their fucking traditions, man!
So you all seem to know where this comes from, and it has nothing to do with black people you say? That’s interesting. St Nick’s sidekick in Austria is a demon called Krampus. In France he’s a sooty, long-bearded creep who carries a bunch of sticks to beat up on bad kids. You know, all good guys.
The Dutch version of the evil sidekick just happens to be in blackface, is all. Nothing to write home about. Just some dude dressed like a 16th century Moor called Black Pete, but don’t you think this might refer to an actual black dude. This is all in good fun, not at all connected to a tradition that equates black people and evil. -
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