Zwarte Piet

"Black Peter" redirects here. For other uses, see Black Peter (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Piet Zwart.

A person in a traditional Zwarte Piet costume
A person in a modernized Sooty Pete costume

Zwarte Piet (Dutch: [ˈzʋɑrtə ˈpit]; Luxembourgish: Schwaarze Péiter; West Frisian: Swarte Pyt; Indonesian: Pit Hitam), also known in English by the translated name Black Pete, is the companion of Saint Nicholas (Dutch: Sinterklaas; French: Saint-Nicolas; West Frisian: Sinteklaas; Luxembourgish: Kleeschen) in the folklore of the Low Countries. Traditionally, Zwarte Piet serves as an assistant to the saint and distributes sweets and gifts to well-behaved children.[1][2]

The depiction of Zwarte Piet has gone through several changes since the mid 19th century. The earliest known illustration of the character comes from an 1850 book by Amsterdam schoolteacher Jan Schenkman and portrays him as a black Moor. This became the dominant representation of Zwarte Piet throughout the 20th century. Those portraying the traditional version of the character, since deemed a racial stereotype, usually put on blackface and colourful Renaissance attire in addition to curly wigs and bright red lipstick.[3]

This version of Zwarte Piet became increasingly controversial beginning in the late 20th century and throughout the years that followed.[2] Alternatives later debuted, among them multicolored Piets. By 2021 a revised version, dubbed Sooty Piet (Dutch: Roetveegpiet), had become more common than the traditional variant at public events and in television specials, films, social media, and advertising.[4] Sooty Piet features the natural skin tone of the actors playing the character with soot marks created by streaks of dark makeup on their faces.

  1. ^ Vermuyen, Cleo; Schuiling, Nienke (4 December 2019). "Zwarte Piet is vooral een spiegel van de tijdsgeest". University of Groningen.
  2. ^ a b "100 drogredenen ontkracht". Kick Out Zwarte Piet. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  3. ^ Forbes, Bruce David (2007). Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press. p. 54. With Arab influence remaining among the Spanish population, Sinter Klaas had a Moorish assistant named Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter, an orphan who was pictured at times wearing a turban and a golden earring. Alternative explanations for his dark skin were that it was soot from sliding down chimneys or that he was a representation of the devil, who Saint Nicholas was able to conquer and force into his service. In annual observances over the years, Zwarte Piet was portrayed by a person in black face, and today some cultural commentators have criticized the legends and representations of Black Peter for racial stereotyping.
  4. ^ "Sooty Piets take over, blackface out of favour in most towns and cities". DutchNews. 9 November 2021.