If, on December 5th, you’re molested by a creepy Bishop flanked by black-skinned bodyguards wearing Rasta wigs and gay clothes who start throwing food at you, don’t call the police%they’re just part of the Dutch holiday fun.
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Sinterklaas, a.k.a. Sint Nicholas, is a saint. He lives in Spain, has a white beard, and every year, around November 20th, he jumps into his steamboat with his white horse, Schimmel (Mold, yes, mold), and his helpers%gangbangers by the name of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete)%and heads for Holland.
His arrival is the signal for Dutch kids to put their shoes in front of the fireplace
(nowadays, in front of the TV set). Prior to December 5th, Sint occasionally rides his horse up on the roof and sends Zwarte Piet down the chimney to put candy in each kid’s shoe, although, in wealthy neighborhoods, computer games and cash now fill the shoes because candy’s no longer good enough for modern-day spoiled brats.
On Dec 5th, young and old alike exchange surprises, which are handmade presents, like, say, a papier-mâché Buddha, with a real present inside. With the surprise comes a rhyming poem (doggerel), written by the giver, who mentions things that have happened in the surprise receiver’s life, while also seizing the opportunity to highlight that person’s character defects.
Spekulaas and marzipan are Sinterklaas sweets. And pepernoten (mysterious brownish lumps) are what Zwart Piet throws at passersby. Dark-skinned foreign students may have a problem with Zwarte Piet, finding it politically incorrect for the white folks to dress up like black men and go around scaring the bejesus out of little kids while, at the same time, working as a slave for the white Christian cracker on the horse.
To this, Dutchman less sensitive to minority concerns reply, ‘piss off, and if you don’t like it, go back to where you came from,’ while the better sort stress that Piet’s face has merely been blackened by chimney dust. But nowadays it doesn’t much matter, since Zwarte Piet’s traditional threat to put ‘bad’ kids in his sack and take them back to Spain is an offer most Dutch kids would happily accept, especially if they’re going to Ibiza.
If, on December 5th, you’re molested by a creepy Bishop flanked by black-skinned bodyguards wearing Rasta wigs and gay clothes who start throwing food at you, don’t call the police%they’re just part of the Dutch holiday fun.
Sinterklaas, a.k.a. Sint Nicholas, is a saint. He lives in Spain, has a white beard, and every year, around November 20th, he jumps into his steamboat with his white horse, Schimmel (Mold, yes, mold), and his helpers%gangbangers by the name of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete)%and heads for Holland.
His arrival is the signal for Dutch kids to put their shoes in front of the fireplace
(nowadays, in front of the TV set). Prior to December 5th, Sint occasionally rides his horse up on the roof and sends Zwarte Piet down the chimney to put candy in each kid’s shoe, although, in wealthy neighborhoods, computer games and cash now fill the shoes because candy’s no longer good enough for modern-day spoiled brats.
On Dec 5th, young and old alike exchange surprises, which are handmade presents, like, say, a papier-mâché Buddha, with a real present inside. With the surprise comes a rhyming poem (doggerel), written by the giver, who mentions things that have happened in the surprise receiver’s life, while also seizing the opportunity to highlight that person’s character defects.
Spekulaas and marzipan are Sinterklaas sweets. And pepernoten (mysterious brownish lumps) are what Zwart Piet throws at passersby. Dark-skinned foreign students may have a problem with Zwarte Piet, finding it politically incorrect for the white folks to dress up like black men and go around scaring the bejesus out of little kids while, at the same time, working as a slave for the white Christian cracker on the horse.
To this, Dutchman less sensitive to minority concerns reply, ‘piss off, and if you don’t like it, go back to where you came from,’ while the better sort stress that Piet’s face has merely been blackened by chimney dust. But nowadays it doesn’t much matter, since Zwarte Piet’s traditional threat to put ‘bad’ kids in his sack and take them back to Spain is an offer most Dutch kids would happily accept, especially if they’re going to Ibiza.
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