“In the Netherlands, we do not believe in Santa Claus. We have the real guy: Sinterklaas”. Columnist Paula Dubbink explains a controversial Dutch December tradition.
I have never believed in Santa Claus and neither has the man ever given me any presents. (Yes, I realize that these two facts might have some correlation.) Don’t pity me, there is a good reason. In the Netherlands, we do not believe in Santa Claus. We have the real guy: Sinterklaas.
Sinterklaas comes from the Dutch words for Saint Nicolas (Sint Nicolaas) and obviously he is older than Santa, who was only created when Dutch immigrants moved to the USA. In the past, Sinterklaas still reflected the old saint named Nicolas, who lived in Turkey around the year 300 and performed some fancy miracles. But the religious connotation has since long disappeared.
Nowadays, kids in Holland learn more or less this: “Sinterklaas is a very old and very rich man with a long beard and a red dress who, every year, comes from Spain with his steamship. He stays for about three weeks, might visit your school and always stuffs your shoe with candy. On his birthday, the fifth of December, Sinterklaas leaves a big bunch of presents at the door. Some presents will contain poems in which he might tease you with the fact that you still can’t tie your shoelaces, but he never gets mean. Then he leaves and you have to wait an entire year for his return.”
Sounds incredible? Please compare it with the concept of an overweight man flying through the sky with a sleigh and reindeers and we’ll speak again.
However, the entire folk feast has just one dark side – literally. Sinterklaas never comes from Spain alone, but surrounded by a mass of assistants. While that in itself is quite logical – how else is he supposed to be able to bring presents to hundreds of children? – these helpers are black and are all called Black Pete.
‘What’, I hear you scream, ‘isn’t that the most discriminating thing in the world? Especially for a country with a colonialist history?’ Call us ignorant, but until recently most people didn’t give this a thought. Black Pete was as much part of our culture as syrup waffles and the color orange. Moreover, we always had a perfect explanation: Black Pete is black because he delivers presents…through the chimney.
However, things have started to change. A small but perseverant group of activists tries to get the message across that ‘Black Pete Is Racist’. Even if their politically correct talks annoy me at times, it is good that they exist. Personally, I am convinced that Pete is not meant to be racist, but the fact that he can be interpreted as such should be enough reason to change the tradition slightly and introduce Petes in rainbow colors. The feast remains as cozy and exciting as it has always been and everybody is happy. Right?
Well, no. Suddenly my country turned nationalistic and there have been fierce debates on this topic, including a ‘Pete-ition’ which has been liked by more than 2.1 million Dutchmen. While most of them just pity the fact that this part of Dutch folklore will disappear, a small group uses the opportunity to ventilate anti-immigrant thoughts. A small selection of quotes from the webpage: “Those immigrants who come here should respect our traditions – we are being discriminated within our own countries – if you don’t like it here, you better fuck off to your own country, you are getting spoiled here.”
Apart from ironic – because the anti-Pete lobby is not led by immigrants, but mostly by higher class intellectuals who have read about post-colonial theory – this is just plain sadness and shows – again, the irony – a very dark side of my country of which I am not proud at all.
At last, the issue ended up with public demonstrations to retain Black Pete, countered by other demonstrators turning (literally) their backs to the Petes during the public arrival of Sinterklaas in a gesture of disapproval. A perfect example of how a children’s feast turned into a sad fight by adults. I guess the Swedes (and most other countries) can be happy that Santa’s story is very uncontroversial. Then again, have animal activists ever considered the treatment and working hours of Santa’s reindeers?
