Sinterklaas

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Sinterklaas (Dutch pronunciation) or Sint-Nicolaas (Dutch pronunciation (About this sound listen)) is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. Other names for the figure include De Sint ("The Saint"), De Goede Sint ("The Good Saint"), and De Goedheiligman ("The Good Holy Man") in Dutch; Saint Nicolas in French; Sinterklaas in West Frisian; Sinterklaos in Limburgs; Saint-Nikolai in West Flemish; and Kleeschen and Zinniklos in Luxembourgish. The feast of Sinterklaas celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December. The feast is celebrated annually with the giving of gifts on St. Nicholas' Eve (5 December) in the Netherlands and on the morning of 6 December, Saint Nicholas Day, in Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France (French Flanders, Lorraine and Artois). The tradition is also celebrated in territories of the former Dutch Empire, including Curaçao and Suriname. Sinterklaas is the primary source of the po[CENSORED]r Christmas icon of Santa Claus.

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is based on the historical figure of Saint Nicholas (270–343), a Greek bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey. He is depicted as an elderly, stately and serious man with white hair and a long, full beard. He wears a long red cape or chasuble over a traditional white bishop's alb and sometimes red stola, dons a red mitre and ruby ring, and holds a gold-coloured crosier, a long ceremonial shepherd's staff with a fancy curled top. He traditionally rides a white horse. In the Netherlands, the horse is called Amerigo, and in Belgium, it is named Slecht weer vandaag, meaning "bad weather today" or Mooi weer vandaag . Sinterklaas carries a big, red book in which is written whether each child has been good or naughty in the past year.

Zwarte Piet

Sinterklaas is assisted by Zwarte Piet ("Black Pete"), a helper in colourful Moorish dress and with blackface. Zwarte Piet first appeared in print as the nameless servant of Saint Nicholas in Sint-Nikolaas en zijn knecht ("St. Nicholas and His Servant/Apprentice"), published in 1850 by Amsterdam schoolteacher Jan Schenkman; however, the tradition appears to date back at least as far as the early 19th Century.Zwarte Piet's colourful dress is based on 16th-century noble attire, with a ruff (lace collar) and a feathered cap. He is typically depicted carrying a bag which contains candy for the children, which they toss around, a tradition supposedly originating in the story of Saint Nicholas saving three young girls from prostitution by tossing golden coins through their window at night to pay their dowries. Traditionally, he would also carry a birch rod (Dutch: roe), a chimney sweep's broom made of willow branches, used to spank children who had been naughty. Some of the older Sinterklaas songs make mention of naughty children being put in Zwarte Piet's bag and being taken back to Spain. This part of the legend refers to the times that the Moors raided the European coasts, and as far as Iceland, to abduct the local people into slavery. This quality can be found in other companions of Saint Nicholas such as Krampus and Père Fouettard. In modern versions of the Sinterklaas feast, however, Zwarte Piet no longer carries the roe and children are no longer told that they will be taken back to Spain in Zwarte Piet's bag if they have been naughty. Over the years many stories have been added, and Zwarte Piet has developed from a rather unintelligent helper into a valuable assistant to the absent-minded saint. In modern adaptations for television, Sinterklaas has developed a Zwarte Piet for every function, such as a head Piet (Hoofdpiet), a navigation Piet (Wegwijspiet) to navigate the steamboat from Spain to the Netherlands, a gift-wrapping Piet (Pakjes Piet) to wrap all the gifts, and an acrobatic Piet to climb roofs and chimneys Traditionally Zwarte Piet's face is said to be black because he is a Moor from Spain.Today, some prefer to say that his face is blackened with soot because he has to climb through chimneys to deliver gifts for Sinterklaas. The figure of Zwarte Piet is considered by some to be racist. Accordingly, the traditions surrounding the holiday of Sinterklaas have been the subject of numerous editorials, debates, documentaries, protests and even violent clashes at festivals.Some large cities and television channels now only display Zwarte Piet characters with some soot marks on the face rather than full blackface, so-called roetveegpieten or schoorsteenpieten ("chimney Petes"). Nevertheless, both Zwarte Piet and the holiday remain po[CENSORED]r in the Netherlands. In a 2013 survey, 92% of the Dutch public did not perceive Zwarte Piet as racist or associate him with slavery, and 91% were opposed to altering the character's appearance. In a similar survey in similar survey in 2018, between 80 and 88% of the Dutch public did not perceive Zwarte Piet as racist, and between 41 and 54% were happy with the character's modernized appearance (a mix of roetveegpieten and blackface).