ĥ Black Pete Beats Children In A Burlap Sack It’s such a big part of his character that there are several seasonal “Black Pete” beers on the market in the Netherlands, all dark ales that often show a swarthy-looking man in blackface getting hammered out of his mind. And for Black Pete, they will leave a couple of bottles of beer.Īs it turns out, Black Pete is a hard-drinking man. For his horse, they will leave hay and carrots. For Sinterklaas, they will leave coffee and poetry. The holiday is more about giving than receiving, and so the children leave little gifts for Sinterklaas and his friends. And so, waiting for his arrival, they leave their shoes by the fireplace so that he has a place to put his little gifts. On December 5, the children get ready for the magical moment when Sinterklaas and his Black Petes will sneak into their homes and leave them presents. The strangest and most popular idea is to say that Pete’s not really black, he’s just a very dirty white person in desperate need of a shower-which somehow feels worse.Ĩ Sinterklaas’s Original Assistant Was Satan These days, some Dutch people have tried to rebrand him any way they can, but it doesn’t always work. He’s in charge of breaking into people’s homes and beating bad kids with a broom handle. He speaks with the accent of an African slave in the Dutch colony of Suriname.īlack Pete is Sinterklaas’s dim-witted rapscallion helper-and he’s a bit terrifying. Instead, Black Pete’s usually played by some white Dutch person in blackface, complete with cartoonish red lips and a wig of natty black hair. Officially, Black Pete is supposed to be a Moor from Spain, but it’s pretty rare that an actual Moor plays him. They’re African slaves, all called Black Pete. His helpers, though, aren’t a group of merry, pointy-eared elves. Sinterklaas doesn’t visit the children alone. #Dutch school of magic fullMaybe, instead of singing carols in a deep, jolly, tenor voice full of cheer, Sinterklaas just might sing castrato.ĩ Black Pete, Sinterklaas’s African Slave It just might be a glimpse into an old tradition lost in time. Most people just try to avoid talking about it, and so the English version usually changes it to “Sinterklaas, little rascal.” But that’s not what it really means.įor all we know, the song just might be literal. The song’s so old that nobody’s completely sure why they’re calling him a rooster, but it’s almost certainly about his vow of chastity. Remember that scene in Miracle on 34th Street where the little Dutch girl sings a Sinterklaas song to Santa? Well, that’s the song she’s singing-a beautiful melody about Sinterklaas being a castrated farm animal. Like the classic carol “Sinterklaas kapoentje” (“Sinterklaas, you castrated rooster!”). There are holiday carols entirely about the fact that Sinterklaas is a virgin. That’s not just a minor detail about Sinterklaas. But it’s not just that he doesn’t have a wife-Sinterklaas is celibate. Sinterklaas, but he doesn’t seem that different. Sure, he has a bishop’s hat and staff and there’s no Mrs. He’s a jolly old man with a white beard and a red gown. Sinterklaas looks an awful lot like a thin Santa Claus.
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