Sinterklaas cancelled in New Westminster after concerns about blackface characters
There will be no blackfaces marching alongside Sinterklaas in New Westminster this weekend.
A Dutch holiday celebration in New Westminster has been cancelled in the wake of a complaint about how it portrays people of African descent.
Sinterklaas was to take place at Holland Shopping Centre on Saturday (December 3).
The New Westminster News Leader reported that a man named Roger Jones objected to including a character known as Black Peter, who marches with Sinterklaas in the festival.
People who play this role cover their faces in black makeup, which is reminiscent of how racist American shows portrayed people of African descent in a bygone era.
The Sinterklaas website carries the following message:
Dear fellow members of the Dutch community,
We regret to inform you that the Sinterklaas celebrations for 2011, at the New Westminster Quay as well as at the Holland Shopping Centre have been CANCELLED.
We thank you all for your input in the Zwarte Piet discussion, and we encourage the community to keep up their Sinterklaas tradition.
For those of you who feel this is a great loss, we agree. We too are greatly saddened by the events of the past few weeks.
Sincerely,
The Sinterklaas Event Organizers
The holiday celebrates the birthday of Sint Nicolaas (also known as Sinterklaas), a kind Spanish bishop. It has been traditionally commemorated in the Netherlands on the evening of December 5. Sinterklaas arrives on a steamship accompanied by a valet, Zwarte Piet (Black Peter), and other helpers.
According to the Amsterdam Tourism website, the names of naughty children are written in a large book, which Black Peter keeps for Sint Nicolaas. The kids "also know quite well that Black Peter carries a rod with him as well as a huge burlap sack, large enough for naughty children to be taken along to Spain".
Legend has it that Peter is black because he enters homes through chimneys to hand out candy and other treats.
According to the 2006 census, there were 2,335 people of African descent living in the federal riding of Burnaby–New Westminster. There were another 1,390 people of African descent living in the next-door riding of New Westminster–Coquitlam.
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Comments
Now...where's the serving wench with my leg of Tofurky?
SMBs
How sad it is these days that our ideas of tradition that our kids will continue to learn upon are driven by a sugar water company.
That guy who complained and had these celebrations shut down should be ashamed that he is keeping young parade watchers from viewing a glimpse of an expanded view of the world. Go give them a coke while you're at it, buddy.
The modern Black Peter has a valuable role in the Sinterklaas event. Each Black Peter typically has a unique contribution (for example: rooftop logistics expert, I am not joking). They are part of a team, and while Sinterklaas is the boss, there is no master-slave relationship or anything similar.
http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1202-DEC_SEDARIS
Black Pete handing out sweets and the right hand man of Saint Nicolas the bishop of Myara (in what is now Turkey).Patron saint of the children and celebrated as such by children for the last millenium at least in one form or another throughout the world.
As child I remember always being in awe by the appearance of these two with their beautiful gold embroidered clothes etc. (and never noticed either two in slave chains). I never made the association between Black Pete, with his thin lips and blue eyes in a pitch black face, and my African decent friends that I used to play and go to school with. In fact, as a childs logic is very simple, I always thought he was black because he went down the chimney to bring me my presents, he was my childhood champion !
Now looking at the discussion isn't it great that two figures the ultimate role models for children with such extreme complexions, are the best of friends relying on each other, working with onanother in harmony to bring us our presents? Isn't this the world's utopia that we are striving for and are trying to teach our children?
The two started out differently and are actually the Christanification of the Germatic god Wodan (Wednessday) who rides through the sky on his six legged white horse with on his shoulders two black ravens/crows. The crows fly to the people below and report to Wodan who is naughty or nice and Wodan punishes the naughty be throwing thunder bolds. This nature believe of old had no racial association nor has its' present form.
Ying and Yang, Saint Nicolas and Black Pete, the world without racism.... too bad that the black part has now been removed from worlds biggest childrens celebration and has become a (l)on(e)ly WHITE Saint Nicolas celebration without BLACK Pete.
Martyn
I find our government's theatrical parade of violence in the Middle East offensive. Can we cancel that shit too? What's more offensive, institutionalized mass slaughter or a dutch guy in make-up?
The biggest problem here is, the onus of the prejudism is STILL being displayed and THIS time on a purely traditional and honourable custom LONG KNOWN in Nederlands.
It is time you extremist activists grew the hell up and stopped firing your guns at shadow every time you hear a backfire from a car.
Being liberal means allowing ALL others to be themselves freely, NOT being so restrictive and conservative.
That, Roger Jones, is what you achieved. And probably a lot of "anger" against the African-Canadian community in New Westminster.
Perhaps the black is from the chimney soot, but then there's the record of imperial immposition that the Dutch share with English, French, Spanish, Belgians, etc.
Either way, in Canada the blackface get-up is associated with racist depictions of African American slaves and former slaves, and fer shur, historically, blackface has no place in a former terminal city for the "underground railroad".
The Sinterklaas organizers did the right thing all in all, showed real community spirit, real Christian spirit - a man asks for your cloak, give him you shirt, eh, the guy who said that was born on Xmas day - so good for them.
The way that children see other races portrayed forms their attitudes towards other races, cultures and religions. Black Pete, come on you folks, none of you cannot see the harm here.
Walk a mile millions of black peoples shoes and then tell us you support black Pete being anywhere.Those of you who think this has something to do with political correctness need to partake in some intellectual investigation.
You interpretive comprehension skills are missing.
To be clear. Thousands of Dutch people, including my Dutch wife see Pete as a symbol of racist. Period. If you cannot see it , wake up and join the world of thinking and caring people.
One of the great traditions of Christmas is popular street theatre, aka 'spectacle' - hence pantomime, mummering, etc - much of which involves dressing up, including cross-dressing, and satirizing the existing social structure. A creative solution in the spirit of spectacle for the New West parade would have been to have a black Santa and a white 'Black Peter'. Kids would have got the joke. But so-called adults...now that's a big problem. First you need a sense of humour.
hg
Looking for, are you fucking kidding. Who wants racist acts committed against them. You are so average Canadian it stinks. When a black person spots racism it is said that he has a problem about his colour. Bullshit. Portraying black people the way Pete does and other black face degradations is just plain wrong.
I have a great sense of humour but I do not laugh when anyone is made fun of or bullied or distained in any way. Santa Claus is not representative of a race whoever hg is. And I add, of course an alternative should be fought and I am sure it will be without Pete for Pete's sake.
Merry Christmas to all and to all you racists good night.
i live in the Netherlands and i don't understand all the commotion about our holiday.
The elf’s from sante clause are little people, but that is not offensive to smaller people.
In the Netherlands we don’t have this discussion for the simple reason, we celebrate it together. Children off all over the world living here with us and enjoying this holiday.
Why destroying a festive for children with racist thought of the grownups?
I have never heard a child mistaken a collard man with black peter.
So why are the grownups making all this fuss??
What you are doing is teaching children that there is difference between the colour of people instead of the magical make believe the so enjoy.
Maybe we should let children enjoy their festive and bother then with racism when they are older and more understandable what it means.
How will you explain to your children their wont be Christmas.. not because the have me bad but because smaller people say that Christmas is bad. We are talking about small children who really believe in Sinterklaas and black peter and thinking the have be bad all year\, or that the simply are forgotten… people please treasure the make believe world where small children live and don’t destroy that with grownup stuff.
I really feel sorry for your children that the have to miss this magical holyday!!
Hope you wont destroy Christmas for them…
You GOT, apparently don't get it. So you might have laughed along with Hitler when he was making jokes about Jewish people. Yes, its a slippery slope, and it comes down to whose ox is being gored.As James Green says " Portraying black people the way Pete does and other black face degradations is just plain wrong."Amen.Have you heard of Do unto others as you would have them do to you. That's a Christian passage so its relevant here since we are talking about what should be the true Christmas spirit.
Apparently all the Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) have curly / kinky hair.
That, to me, is the likely give-away that they're of African decent, not just "regular folks" who've got soot-stained faces. Otherwise the black-face bit wouldn't bother me.
The Netherlands was always on the forefront of global resource extraction at the expense of natives: Indonesia, Suriname, etc.
So it likely does have racist roots.
But, again, I'm somewhat ambivalent about it. It does make me cringe I suppose.
CBC Radio One show Dispatches had a story about it this week, worth checking out.
As is the link to the humourous Sedaris story at Esquire, posted above.
Everyone go and watch "Allastair Sim" in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" take a little time off from the "Rat Race" with the family and/or friends, enjoy some nice food/drink and try not to get caught up in all the Retail Bullsh*t.
Better yet head down to the Commodore Ballroom Xmas Eve and catch an ass shakin night of Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot(for the musically challenged he's the Guitar player for the StrayCats).....it'll beat the hell out of hangin out in a mall...that's for damn sure.
As far as I know I am not racist towards other colors due to Sinterklaas festivities during my childhood, I don't care about anything racial. In short: complaining about Sinterklaas does not make sense from a child's perspective.
Strange... did you know that real black people (you know, the ones where their dark color doesn't come off, like yourself for 64 years...) from Suriname (former colony of the Netherlands) actually dress up as Black Pete? They do paint their faces black though. What message are they sending in your world? The are submissive to their former coloniser? Or perhaps these people don't care about that and just want to take part in a national celebration.
I hate to defend this celebration each and every year again. Every year some loud shouting people like to spoil a good tradition by bringing in the racism card.
Racism is removing Black Pete from the Sinterklaas tradition by saying Black Pete is black and should be white because caucasian is the only way. THAT is racism.
As far as I am concerned we should go back to the white page version (although I also like the pagan one) where white Pieten have black smeares on their faces. Children will still call them: Zwarte Pieten. Is that acceptable enough or is that also still racism? In that case, also ban elfs. Short people might get offended. What about angels, they are white. Case of racism to me. Santa Claus is fat. Wow, that is some stereotyping. And he is also a male!
I agree with many of the readers who have mentioned how Sinterklaas predates the 'Coke' version of Santa. I love the idea of the Dutch community sharing its traditions. However, examining traditions for racism is important for all cultures.
If Peter is truly a person/child who has gone up and down chimneys then why not portray him with ash smeared on his face and clothes? Why the need for blackface and red lipstick and kinky hair?
My understanding is that it was not the Sinterklaas celebration that was objected to - it was the carrying on with a portrayal of Peter that continues to celebrate/promote a racist part of history.
I hope the community that works to organize the Sinterklaas celebration and the wider community of concerned citizens can come to an agreement that allows this event to occur next year.
It is time to wake up Canada, love your brothers and sisters too and that includes ending these type of portrayals and betrayals of black peoples quest to live equally, without anyone showing this type of insentivity to the days of blacks face, Jim Crow, minstrel shows being called racial slurs and being enslaved.
1. very disappointed kids
2. aggrevation by those who do understand the difference between innocent dress up and racism.
We all lost in my opinion.
Now, I agree that there is a point where the wishes of one offended person can not stand in the way of the wishes of the masses.
But we must remember that in our society there are levels of dialogue when it comes to inapporopriate themes.
What we have here is first order backlash against insensitive themes. It's not so much who Black Pete is, but how he is portrayed. If the individual was merely a dirty individual, as opposed to all Black, and was represent as being obviously not of Negroid origins.. there could be a point where it could be seen as not racist. That is not the case in the accompanying photo of this article.
Unfortunately for the people who only see a character and look beyond the racial connotation, the Dutch people and their colonial offspring, have too much history of negative response to the Black population to trot out such archane characters (Dutch/Affrikanners), any more than a German telling a jewish joke... or a North American still making Native themed characters.
There are certainly times when all this politically correct, diversity driven stuff gets to really bugging me...... but this is not one of those situations.
But if "Sinterklaas" is racist, than so is Thanksgiving, when people dress up like indians who were mass murdered.
Aparently white people are guilty of everything and although a small part of the Europeans actually profited from slavery, it is an original sin for all and next generations of Europeans, until eternity, have to feel guilty. Arabs and Ottomans were far more involved and for longer times in the slave business (they also took Europeans as slaves) but if you mention that you are an 'islamophoob'. If a European mentions that slavery in Africa had always existed and that many slaves were sold or given to the Europeans by other Africans you are called a racist and an apologist. The notion exists that all Europeans were somehow involved in the slave trade or profited from it sitting beside their swimming pools drinking their Martinis.
Well, life in mid eval, renainsance or industrial Europe was no picknick. Life was brutal and short. In the 19th century people were having miserable lives in the factories of Europe. Sure, they were no slaves. They were free to quitte and die of hunger. Every once in a while they had a tradition, just like Sinterklaas. But apparently traditions fall victim to PC.
Slavery and racism are horrible things. Slavery exists until this day in the form of sweatshops or mineral mines in Congo. When you buy a cell phone or sneakers or clothes made in Mexico or Indonesia you are supporting slavery. I think that is more important than a childrens party once a year.
I do agree that the history is a bit murky and could have had some racial aspects to it in the past. But the tradition has evolved over the years. Nowadays Nicolas is portrayed as a friendly, but very old man who can't deliver all the presents by himself. So his best mate Pete helps him out. Kids probably like Pete best, because he is cheerful, kind and brings candy and presents through the chimney. Therefore he's covered in soot. There's really nothing but positive vibes in it for the kids nowadays.
Also, at that age they really don't think in black and white, but they just see two guys in colourful outfits that bring presents. They hardly care about the background of it all. Every Dutch kid grows up with this tradition and it has not made me, or anyone I know, into a racist. I can understand that the concept of 'Black Pete' might be offensive to people who don't know much about the tradition, but I wish they would collect some more background info before calling it racist.
If you are THAT concerned with being politically correct, then maybe Santa Claus (lots of movies with elfs being played by people with dwarf syndrome) and Thanksgiving (ask the Native Americans/ Canadians how they celebrate that day) should be first on your list of priorities! ;-) Just my 2 cents....
Black Peter is associated with Moors or the Moriaan. There were undoubtedly racial prejudices in the 17-19th century.The whole society had these tendencies so this festival as well. These have been lost in the last century, 50 years.
Living in the west of Amsterdam I see a lot of Morrocans, who could be called descended from the Moors partaking in the festival with Gusto. With their children, with all children, Black Peter is very popular. probably because they shower the crowds with candy :). Morrocan familys have the feast at home as well. So historcaly speaking the group who should be offendend isn't. I would also add that the festival helps to integrated different communities in our part of town. It is the only festival I know which all the different groups share.
So strangly enough there are aspects of the tradition with some roots in racism. But even in dirty soil nice flowers can grow. I think it is much more helpfull to embrace the good and enjoy what the festival has become. And for all of you people who think Sinterklaas should be banned I would ask to come to West Amsterdam and seen how Sinterklaas and especially Black Peter is recieved. Even if you don't want to come just put some chocolate and candy in the shoes of your (grand) children on the morning of the 5th of december. And if they ask where it came from, just smile. Just smile.
Please let us continue our traditions.
It almost negates anything else you say. Perhaps that was typed in the heat of the moment James?
ridiculous dutch guy above who said we are 'wimps on the world stage' hey, do you guy's remember when we liberated your entire country from nazis in WW II and saved your royal family from execution? yeah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iGQ8oiHHwM
Your Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas is a simple Copy off our Sinterklaas.
You celebrate this holyday with your family . The mages of Santa Claus were further popularized through Haddon Sundblom’s depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising in the 1930s.[
So you take our holly day in to your country, take a way black Peet and put some elfs in stead and then in less then 100 years later you have the balls to tell the origin that their holydays is wrong because you prefer a commercial holyday above the original.
Sorry I really don’t get that.
I feel so sorry for your children that the cancelled the holyday.
Yesterday I celebrate this holyday with my family and look at the faces when they where singing their songs, opening their present and calling down the street thank you Sinterklaas and Black Peet is something i even can’t imaging I have to miss.
Why oh, dear god, why are you punishing children for they have done nothing wrong to you!! Is the saying having peace on earth mean nothing to you? How can their be peace if you put something as innocent as make believe from a child in something racism.
If we where saying in our country that we forbidden the people to calibrate Thanksgiving where does it stop…??!!
I can’t imagine that we would do that for the simple reason that we Dutch people do have the respect people with their believes and traditions in our country and learn from then and celebrate it together because that what brings people together and respect each other by living together.
And James Green I can’t imagine that your wife as a child didn’t enjoy this holyday, and if she is forgotten how it was to celebrate it. I would say to you, come over to our country next year and see the joy on the faces of children who are dancing and singing with sinterklaas and black peet and don’t look with tunnel view just look at the party and you will see with your hart that racism is no where found in our tradition these day’s!!
http://animamrecro.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/hallucinogenic-mushrooms-and...
Or for that matter Morris men who often dance in blackface, which has nothing to do with race, but was an attempt to hide identity since Morris dancing was banned at various times in history.
I'm a 72 years old bearded caucation man and I like to dress in red. Every year I get the same stares and comments around the time when that CLOWN santa clause comes to town again. I hereby request the authorities to abolish the character Santa Clause as it is offending to the elderly bearded population. And who cares that the kids will be dissappointend, because I am a self centered grumpy man!
PS While I'm at it, I think that this coffee colored bubbly sugar water is disgusting!