Tonight, children all over the Netherlands will celebrate the age old Sinterklaas feast (or more formally Sint Nicolaas or Sint Nikolaas; Saint Nicolas in English). For those who don’t know, its festivities are centered around a winter holiday figure who basically looks like a roman Catholic priest with a long white beard in a red and gold dress, carrying a mitre and staff. According to the tale he visits the country on a boat from Spain carrying oranges and sweets for children that are handed out to them by his helpers: Zwarte Pieten. Literally this is translated to ‘Black Peters’: Afro-haired, kind of harlequin outfit wearing black servants to Sinterklaas.
The debate around this highly problematic figure has been spreading like wild fire in the past few months. Nothing wrong with that at all one would think, as we all hopefully agree that public debate is at the core of a free and democratic country. The only problem has been that the debate hasn’t led to any result what so ever. The fire has not left any fertile soil. Fine, the UN have agreed to start an investigation concerning the Sinterklaasfeest (Saint Nicolas feast). But why in the world can’t the Netherlands themselves find a fitting answer to this ever returning issue?Tonight, children all over the Netherlands will celebrate the age old Sinterklaas feast (or more formally Sint Nicolaas or Sint Nikolaas; Saint Nicolas in English). For those who don’t know, its festivities are centered around a winter holiday figure who basically looks like a roman Catholic priest with a long white beard in a red and gold dress, carrying a mitre and staff. According to the tale he visits the country on a boat from Spain carrying oranges and sweets for children that are handed out to them by his helpers: Zwarte Pieten. Literally this is translated to ‘Black Peters’: Afro-haired, kind of harlequin outfit wearing black servants to Sinterklaas.
The debate around this highly problematic figure has been spreading like wild fire in the past few months. Nothing wrong with that at all one would think, as we all hopefully agree that public debate is at the core of a free and democratic country. The only problem has been that the debate hasn’t led to any result what so ever. The fire has not left any fertile soil. Fine, the UN have agreed to start an investigation concerning the Sinterklaasfeest (Saint Nicolas feast). But why in the world can’t the Netherlands themselves find a fitting answer to this ever returning issue?