The modern story has a few attributions, as DankZedong says, but the version I heard was that Zwarte Piet is an ex-slave that Sint Nicolaas bought the freedom of, and Zwarte Piet was so thankful he started working for Sinterklaas. For free. Yeah.
It’s likely a combination of different origins: some say African person, some say chimney sweeper, some say they devil. If you look at other places that have the holiday of Saint Nicolas you’d see these combinations too. In some German region his helpers are dressed like devils for example.
In The Netherlands people keep saying chimney sweeper but it doesn’t make sense to give him a full blackface, afro hair, golden earrings and bright red lips then.
I used to have a few Dutch friends. It was jarring how cavalier they were about Black Pete and how in denial they were about the racism associated with the tradition. A very similar mindset to white Americans who think it’s okay to dress up like Pocohantas as a costume.
What even is the origin story of black pete? This sounds like something out of a sketch.
CW: more racism
The modern story has a few attributions, as DankZedong says, but the version I heard was that Zwarte Piet is an ex-slave that Sint Nicolaas bought the freedom of, and Zwarte Piet was so thankful he started working for Sinterklaas. For free. Yeah.
Ah the slave to unpaid intern pipeline
It’s likely a combination of different origins: some say African person, some say chimney sweeper, some say they devil. If you look at other places that have the holiday of Saint Nicolas you’d see these combinations too. In some German region his helpers are dressed like devils for example.
In The Netherlands people keep saying chimney sweeper but it doesn’t make sense to give him a full blackface, afro hair, golden earrings and bright red lips then.
yeah, we had krampus (devil/demon dude) growing up. black peter was a card game (but somehow obviously related to the dutch black peter custom).
I used to have a few Dutch friends. It was jarring how cavalier they were about Black Pete and how in denial they were about the racism associated with the tradition. A very similar mindset to white Americans who think it’s okay to dress up like Pocohantas as a costume.