Many of you are aware that I have a deep and abiding fondness for The Netherlands. Even my moniker, Steveningen, reflects it. I love the spirit of the people who not only built beautiful cities and villages, but the very land they rest on. The country is one of the most generous on the planet, contributing unselfish amounts of money and resources during humanitarian crises. The Hague (Den Haag) has been entrusted with the World Court. There is much to recommend Holland. However, one tradition, among many fine traditions, is their love affair with Zwarte Piet, Sinterklaas's sidekick. You see, Piet wears blackface.
But First, A Word From Our Sponsor:
Top Comments recognizes the previous day's Top Mojo and strives to promote each day's outstanding comments through nominations made by Kossacks like you. Please send comments (before 9:30pm ET) by email to topcomments@gmail.com or by our KosMail message board. Just click on the Spinning Top™ to make a submission. Look for the Spinning Top™ to pop up in diaries posts around Daily Kos.
Make sure that you include the direct link to the comment (the URL), which is available by clicking on that comment's date/time. Please let us know your Daily Kos user name if you use email so we can credit you properly. If you send a writeup with the link, we can include that as well. The diarist poster reserves the right to edit all content.
Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
|
Yesterday marked the arrival of Sinterklaas in Holland. They do things just a bit differently there. Santa doesn't come down the chimney on Christmas Eve, toss the haul for the kids under the tree, take an obligatory bite out of yet another cookie and split. No, Santa, or as the Dutch call him, Sinterklaas, makes his appearance in mid-November on a steamboat that has sailed from his base in Spain. He arrives in Amsterdam in high style, floating through the canals thronged with people before finally disembarking to a waiting white horse. He then rides through the city with his pals, the Zwarte Pieten who throw pepernoten to all the frenzied children. Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten then travel throughout the country until the big culmination the evening of December 5th, which is when the presents are given. Christmas day itself is a much more reserved day than it is here.
The roots of this tradition go back centuries and slowly evolved into the iteration we see today. The Dutch hold this tradition dear to them so it is little wonder that there would be a great resistance to change. However, change is just what has been pushed for and unsurprisingly resistance remains strong.
Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) has become more and more controversial over the years. The men and women who portray the character wear black face, frizzy wigs and bright red lipstick. Until about the 1950s, Zwarte Piet was portrayed as rather slow and dimwitted. But as more immigrants came to Holland, Piet became less of an idiot and more of a friendly helper to Sinterklaas. The black face has hung on, however, in spite of the changing demographics that otherwise has marked The Netherlands as a relatively tolerant and integrated society.
The culture shock at seeing these people running around dressed as medieval Al Jolsons is jarring. Every year, voices are raised in objection and it grows harder and harder for the traditionalists to defend this uncomfortable spectacle. Some even repeat the silly notion that Pete just appears black because of soot from the chimneys he climbs down to deliver presents. Pretty weak tea, eh?
This year things have taken a much stronger turn.
With his fantastical role and antique costume, Zwarte Piet seems disconnected from modern racial stereotypes. He made it through the Netherlands’ politically correct 1990s without raising many eyebrows. Yet in recent years Dutch citizens of Caribbean ancestry have begun protesting the portrayal of St Nicholas’s sidekick as a racist caricature. In the increasingly polarised political climate in the Netherlands, the custom was a tinderbox waiting for a match. In October the debate exploded, polarising cultural life and dragging in celebrities, politicians, and even the UN.
The man who lit the tinderbox is Quinsy Gario, a Curaçao-born Dutch performance artist, who began protesting in 2011 when he attended a Sinterklaas parade wearing a T-shirt reading “Zwarte Piet is racism” and was arrested. In early October Mr Gario appeared on the Netherlands’ most popular television talk-show to make his case again. The following week, the mayor of Amsterdam met with dozens of residents who had submitted a complaint asking that Zwarte Piet be removed from the city’s Sinterklaas parade.
Today, about 300 raucous protesters led by Gario gathered on the
Beursplein in Amsterdam. Gario
shouted to the assembled crowd "The world is watching, and the Netherlands has been found wanting."
Indeed, it would seem that the world is watching. I have been following this story on Dutch news since October. Today's protest has found itself of interest to quite a few outlets. I saw at least a dozen while doing research for writing this diary. As someone who has always found Zwarte Piet to appear blatantly racisit, I so hope that the Dutch acquiesce on the issue. I understand the touchstone that tradition gives us, but come on Nederlanders, would it really be so awful to just wipe away the grease paint?
Now on to Tops!
TOP PHOTOS
November 15, 2013
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
|