Dutch Christmas parade to replace Black Petes’ blackface with ‘sooty faces’
- Organisers say the ‘Zwarte Piets’ who accompany ‘Sinterklaas’ in the Netherlands’ televised parade this year will have a different appearance
The Zwarte Piets, or Black Petes, who accompany Sinterklaas in the annual televised parade, which this year takes place in Apeldoorn on 16 November, will instead have sooty faces, the broadcaster said, in what it called “a logical next step”.
Last year, in response to growing protests by anti-racism campaigners, NTR introduced a mix of sooty and blackface Piets for the parade, saying it “respected both tradition and change” but felt it had to “reflect changes in society”.
Zwarte Piet, Sinterklaas’s helper, has traditionally been portrayed by adults wearing gaudy costumes, large gold earrings, afro-style wigs, red lipstick and full blackface make-up, a characterisation critics say is a racist reference to slavery.
Many Dutch, however, strongly defend the traditional Piet, arguing that his face is black only because of soot from the many chimneys he has had to climb down to bring presents to excited children on December 5.