Apologies For The Break In Service
I’ve been a bit slack for a couple of days and will be till Monday on account of getting some necessary Sinterklaas-type stuff done: I think it’s safe to wander off for a bit as there hasn’t been much of note on the interwebs lately so I shan’t be feeling too guilty at taking a couple of days off . Well, there probably has been, but I just haven’t seen it.
I have some big issues with Sinterklaas, not least that it buggers up Christmas, which feels like such a let-down in NL when the present-giving’s already been done in early December. It makes Christmas day just like any other. And you only get one present! What kind of a measly Christmas is that? And you have to sit through a load of Dutch bollocks first- you can’t just be quietly pleased and thank the giver nicely, it all has to made a major public production out of.
I’m not madly keen on this whole make a big joke out of the present and writing a poem thing , you may’ve guessed. Does anyone actually enjoy it? Seems to me it just makes giving someone a gift into a massive and embarassing chore.
But of course the big issue is Sint Piet, the very most disconcerting thing about the Netherlands and its customs.
For those who are unaware Sint Piet, aka Zwarte Piet, is Saint Nicholas’ little pickaninny slavey (sorry about the language, but that’s the portrayal even though the story goes that he’s ‘Moorish’).
Everywhere you look in Amsterdam now there are blackface caricature-bedecked stickers, sweets, shop decorations, costumed shop assistants, street decorations, parades of blacked-up minstrel types – that ugly golliwog image is everywhere. I’ve even seen blacked-up, black Sint Piets. Uh?
What the fuck is wrong with these people? No Dutch person I’ve asked can see the racism in it at all, and it’s particularly bizarre that there’re few public complaints at all from non-white Dutch people. I’ll never get used to it, ever, and it makes me take a very jaundiced view of the festival. For that reason I really can’t throw myself into it at all – celebrating Sinterklaas to my mind is just continuing to perpetuate offensive stereotypes like this one, used to advertise bakery products:
Ack, that’s just … ack.
However, deep breath, bite tongue. Family obligations prevail.
So in the meantime while we’re away, to try and cleanse your brain of that last please feel free to avail yourself of our exemplary blogroll. Here’s a cat pic to act as a placeholder for a while.
Worried about what the cats will do while we’re away? Who, us?
Now I’m off to go and get some clingfilm so I can leave strategically placed, loosely-wrapped bowls of catfood in various places to keep Hector, Sophie and Monty from wrecking the joint for the next couple of days. Then I’m going to stick assorted Sinterklaas presents together and make them look like a giant gold glittery top hat. You know, like the Black & White Minstrels used to wear in their show-stopping music & dance numbers.
What larks.
Read more: Europe, Netherlands, Holidays, Customs, Sinterklaas, Sint Piet, Racism, Friday cat blogging
