This is how they celebate Christmas in the Netherlands complete with Father Christmas and his helpers in blackface.
A Dutch friend of mine provides some context:
… Racism in Holland is still very open. I [am] actually shocked what still can be said in the public domain. The N-word [in Dutch: 'Neger'] is widely used and is not problematized at all. Right-wing MP Geert Wilders [voted 'Politician of the Year' in 2007] called a Muslim woman in hijab a penguin and I don’t think that even raised much discussion.
As for Sinterklaas [Santa Claus], people will just say it’s an innocent children’s festival. The fact is that it of course stems from racist stereotypes on blacks and master-servant relationships. Zwarte Piet [Black Peter] will beat you with a roe (old-fashioned broom) if you have been naughty while the benevolent Santa Claus will just hand out presents.
I’m embarrassed to confess that in my case it shaped my childhood perception of black people in the sense that I was told by my mum when I first saw a black man as a child, I said something like ‘Ah, Zwarte Piet’…. (I didn’t grow up in a very cosmopolitan place, I remember only two or three black children in my primary school [from] a family [of immigrants] from Suriname). I do remember that there have been attempts from within the Surinam community to address the issue of Sinterklaas but not sure it has been very effective. For examples, see here, here and here. In some places, they have now have rephrased ‘Zwarte Piet’ to ‘Piet’ or ‘hulppiet’ (Assistant Peter) and they use all sorts of colours for face paint and not only black. But apart from that, I don’t think there’s much critical discussion on Sinterklaas at all.
They also have a similar controversial festival in Cornwall called ‘Darkie day’ (dating back to slave trade).
See here.
as a dutchie i feel i have to add my two cents:)
i agree with most of what he says, just wanted to point out that the word ‘neger’ is not the equivalent of the n-word, that would be ‘nikker’, ‘neger’ means negro. This only makes it worse in my few and I think it is the most horrible word in the Dutch language, especially because it is said so casually and there is not much political incorrectness surrounding it. Political correct terms for a black person would be a ‘dark’ man which might be worse. i think ‘dark man’ and negro are still the most commonly used, nobody really says black man.
anywayyy, i think its also absurd that we still have it and i think we should indeed either get rid of the red lips (then it could be due to the chimney) but pref just paint in all colors, would make it much more colorful and feestelijk!!
Do some research before you write crap like this.
1/ holland is a province of a country called the Netherlands.
2/Sinterklaas is not a christmas celebration
3/It is not and never was a racist celebration
3/ Cassandra:not all whites are racists. Really. Yes some dutch people went to South Africa. In the mean them a lot did not, also there were a lot of dutch people or Whites as you call them, who fought against slavery.
Not all blacks ( is that ok to say? whites, blacks, so confusing isn’t it?) where trading slaves, although some did. If you all want to reverse racism it starts with doing research and it definetely is not accomplished with political correctness and half truths.
Thanks Ron that was well written.
Just to add some more info; Sinterklaas is celebrated on the 5th of December and stems from a story that a SPANISH bishop accompanied by his “black” helpers (more than likely Mores) visited the Netherlands to give gifts to the “poor” children. This happened hundreds of years ago. After that it became a folk tradition and its celebrated in The Netherlands and Belgium only.
Oh and there is another misunderstanding; we do not eat oil-balls on Christmas but on New Years eve.
If anyone oppressed the Black Africans it were the English and never forget that they were the inventors of concentration-camps.
I just had to comment as I get really sick of the nonsensical and un-researched comments of certain over-emotional people.
ps check this almost absurd tv-program of one of the country’s biggest tv-stars dressing up as a black antillean woman and fooling celebrities
yeah, there is this weird kind of ignorance of racial sensitivity in this beautiful, so-called tolerant country..
and now to get rid of all my frustrations the mentioned parliamentarian proposed a ‘head-rag-tax’, a tax for women wearing hijabs, of say 1000 euro..
The fact that Holland holds on to racism is not surprising at all. Holland, the birthplace of Whites who went to South Africa to oppress Black natives for hundreds of years – why change now?
Cassandra please get your facts right. Which Holland do you mean, in the US or as one of the provincies of The Netherlands. By the way the Dutch people are generally very tolerant towards any race or colour only a minority is racist. The real oppressors were the English.
Please research the history of South Africa it will be quite revealing for you.
Fuck you ass fuckin shit Yanks,,, mind your own fuckin business and dont be so jealouse and dumb. this is not The Dutch Christmas. We have double feast you rotten cunts. We celebrate the real Christmas RELIGIOUS on dec 25 and this is a children holiday on Dec 5. Deal with it and die from insite!!!
Or is this some british tard who post this? you see Father Christmas. in holland and belgium theres Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus Double Feast
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