Well, we arrived safely to Winterpeg, and believe it or not, all the mental preparation for the -40C weather was unnecessary! Apart from one night where we were all left stranded at a club, waiting for a cab in painful –30C temperatures, the weather has been stellar. We spent the last two days up in Assessippi, snowboarding in beautiful weather. I took a couple spectacular whip outs, but am proud to say I walked away unscathed (can you believe it?!) Seeing M. snowboard was quite the sight--not that many 6, 5”, 230lbs snowboarders out there ;)
We are now back in town just in time for some last minute Christmas shopping. The city is still covered in a blanket of soft snow, which will last well past our stay. Definetly the white Christmas I was looking forward to!
Merry Chirstmas to everyone!
xooo
You know it’s that time of year again in Holland, when you are greeted on the street by a perky middle age woman whose face is painted completely black and is sporting an afro wig and a ridiculous clownlike costume -- and no one around you even blinks an eye at the bizarre site! Yep, it’s the yearly onslaught of the Zwarte Piet!
For those of you who are not familiar with Dutch traditions, let me explain. In Holland, Sinterklaas is celebrated on December 5th (today!) On this evening, children put out their shoes for Sinterklaas to fill with treats. Sounds quite similar to good old Saint Nick doesn’t it? Well, yes and no. Firstly, Sinterklaas comes from Spain --quite different from the North Pole. Secondly, he travels by ship (on sea) and horse (on land) --again, unlike our sleigh flying Santa. Lastly, and most notably, Sinterklaas is accompanied by his very own band of Zwarte Piets (translation: Black Peters)--if you thought elves were offensive, they have nothing on the Piets!
Sinterklaas is said to have originated from St. Nicolaus, the Bishop of Mira, Turkey. According to the legend, he saved the town from starvation, revived three dead children, and offered gifts of dowries to poor girls. The roots, however, of the Zwarte Piets are unclear. Some say these helpers are simply black in colour because they have gone down the chimneys so many times (hmmm, seems like a stretch to me), other say they were in fact “hired helpers”, and other simply state that they are dark “because they come from Spain” (hmmm, right...)
As recently discussed on Expatica "despite his colourful image, Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete, is a very controversial character in the Netherlands. He is called Black Pete because of his dark colouring, and while some attribute his skin colour to the soot from the chimneys he slides down, others criticise the character for being an old-fashioned stereotype and racist symbol of slavery.”
More and more people are finding offence with the icon, an icon that has clearly met its “socially appropriateness” due date.
“To understand the endurance of an icon like Zwarte Piet is to know the gaping divide between tolerance and acceptance, between a multi-cultural society and one which is Dutch with buitenlanders (foreigners) on the begrudging periphery. It is one of the subtle paradoxes of Dutch culture, but one I believe illustrates perfectly the hypocrisy and passive aggressiveness of the Dutch character.“ (full article here)
While surfing the internet for some more opinions on the topic I came across the blog of "Grennie", who has clearly reached a breaking point with the whole season "The past few days have been this horrible emotional downward spiral for me. Horrible lethargic depression, and this extreme fear of going outside. Why? Because Tis' the Season when Blackface is acceptable! I'm so fucking tired of explaining to people that this image is NOT okay. Why do you pretend like these images don't stick with kids when often times if a little dutch kid sees a black person they point and go "Zwarte Piet!" what makes you think that these images aren't going to stick in a society's collective subconscious?"
And so the debate continues. Is Zwarte Piet simply a harmless tradition not worth working ourselves up over. Or, is it an archaic racist symbol which is no longer appropriate for a multicultural society?
I certainly have my opinions, what’s yours?
