Black Pete, Zwarte Piet, Saint Nickolaas, Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Odin, Thor, etc. etc.
Black Pete, or black Peter (or Zwarte Piet, in Dutch), is the helper of Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas in Dutch). To help the discussion if this is racist we need to know the history and background.
Let us start with the facts.
Saint Nicholas, was born in Turkey, in those days (about 1700 years ago) called Greece.
Now there is no real evidence about this saint, except that the Pope, in the sixties (1968) said we have to cancel his official day in the Church, as there is no proof for his miracles. His day is now optional. However his remains, remain in Venice and Bari.
One other fact we do know about Saint Nicholas, is that he was vehemently preaching against the doctrine (or rather fact) that Jesus is the son of God. It is a well known fact that the Church (meaning the Catholic Church), and especially the protestants believe that Jesus is God. Which is why he must be so popular in Holland as the Dutch are perhaps the first, and certainly the most fanatic protestants of Europe. The fact remains that Jesus is the son of God, but not God, ofcourse he should be honoured as God, as one honours the ambassador of a country as the head of state. Especially because Jesus is like the living Word of God as he not only preached the message of God, but also lived by it as an example. And, as not many know Jesus himself said that he was the son of God (and thus not God Himself). This was corroborated by Simon1, one of his main disciples, who, at the time agreed with Jesus, that he was indeed the son of God. Simon was then nicknamed Peter by Lord Jesus, to commemorate the fact that Jesus told him he himself was the son of God, and that Jesus will build a church based on this rock like truth.2 Peter means rock or stone in Hebrew and Greek, thus Simon Peter. Now our so called good Saint Nicholas preached vehemently against the doctrine that Jesus is the son of God, even though Lord Jesus personally complimented Simon after Simon showed his understanding that Jesus is the son of God, and even gave him a nick name; 'Peter', to commemorate the happy occasion. Saint Nickolaas believed that not only do we need to worship Jesus as good as God (which is the tradition), but that he is God, even though Jesus himself denied this clearly.
So Saint Nickolaas' worship is also greatly inspired, and influenced, by the worship of Odin (also called Wodan), and his son Thor, both Germanic gods. Odin was carried by a magic horse with 8 legs, and Thor's carriage was pulled by two goats. In Scandinavian countries, Santa Claus is seen riding on a goat, and the goat is worshipped all over Scandinavia during Christmas. Also Saint Nickolaas was worshipped as having chained the Devil, a feat he supposedly accomplished after his death. This echo's the chaining of the mythical wolf Fenrer, by Thor, technically done by Tyr, but Thor took it upon him, and since the wolf only allowed the third chain, having broken the other two, to be placed upon him if someone would put his hand in his jaw, Thor was excluded, because he needed both hands to yield his magic hammer against the giants and what not.
So in the early days around the 1500's Saint Nicholas was seen as chaining the devil, or a black evil person, which is a frequent tradition in pagan tradition. Perhaps it was in those days that the Devil was nicknamed Black Peter (Zwarte Piet) in the Netherlands, as Saint Nicholas had defeated the doctrine of Peter, that Jesus was the son of God, and not God, which was a major schism in Christianity. Later this black Peter would change into his servant, and even later his black servant would be dressed as a Spaniard, as the Dutch where at war with the Spanish. Later Black Peter turned into a Moor (moor means black). It was in those days that the whole racist connotation came into play, as the word negro also means black, and black Peter was always portrayed as less intelligent.
Off course in norse or Scandinavian tradition there has always been the tradition that Odin would visit the houses around Christmas, and be informed about the children and give presents to the good children and punish or even kidnap the bad. So to what beter place would Black Peter take the children, him coming from Spain, than to Spain. Saint Nickolaas being the patron saint of the sailors, even though owning a horse that could walk on rooftops, would come by boat from Spain.
The whole Santa Claus story is mainly inspired by Odin, and only bares the name of Saint Nicholas, who died December 6th, while Odin would visit the sky and the houses of ordinary mortals around December 25th.
Off course all throughout Europe there are different versions and different companions of Saint Nicholas like Krampus in Austria.
This article is also available in Dutch: http://vegetarianchefcooks.blogspot.be/2017/11/waarom-heet-black-pete-of-black-peter.html
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter↩
2 https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Simon-called-Peter-in-the-Bible/answer/Gregory-Scott-5?srid=n8rR↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
http://bobkaylor.typepad.com/bob_kaylor/2012/12/a-christmas-life-the-real-saint-nicholas-a-sermon-for-christmas-eve.html
Let us start with the facts.
Saint Nicholas, was born in Turkey, in those days (about 1700 years ago) called Greece.
Now there is no real evidence about this saint, except that the Pope, in the sixties (1968) said we have to cancel his official day in the Church, as there is no proof for his miracles. His day is now optional. However his remains, remain in Venice and Bari.
One other fact we do know about Saint Nicholas, is that he was vehemently preaching against the doctrine (or rather fact) that Jesus is the son of God. It is a well known fact that the Church (meaning the Catholic Church), and especially the protestants believe that Jesus is God. Which is why he must be so popular in Holland as the Dutch are perhaps the first, and certainly the most fanatic protestants of Europe. The fact remains that Jesus is the son of God, but not God, ofcourse he should be honoured as God, as one honours the ambassador of a country as the head of state. Especially because Jesus is like the living Word of God as he not only preached the message of God, but also lived by it as an example. And, as not many know Jesus himself said that he was the son of God (and thus not God Himself). This was corroborated by Simon1, one of his main disciples, who, at the time agreed with Jesus, that he was indeed the son of God. Simon was then nicknamed Peter by Lord Jesus, to commemorate the fact that Jesus told him he himself was the son of God, and that Jesus will build a church based on this rock like truth.2 Peter means rock or stone in Hebrew and Greek, thus Simon Peter. Now our so called good Saint Nicholas preached vehemently against the doctrine that Jesus is the son of God, even though Lord Jesus personally complimented Simon after Simon showed his understanding that Jesus is the son of God, and even gave him a nick name; 'Peter', to commemorate the happy occasion. Saint Nickolaas believed that not only do we need to worship Jesus as good as God (which is the tradition), but that he is God, even though Jesus himself denied this clearly.
So Saint Nickolaas' worship is also greatly inspired, and influenced, by the worship of Odin (also called Wodan), and his son Thor, both Germanic gods. Odin was carried by a magic horse with 8 legs, and Thor's carriage was pulled by two goats. In Scandinavian countries, Santa Claus is seen riding on a goat, and the goat is worshipped all over Scandinavia during Christmas. Also Saint Nickolaas was worshipped as having chained the Devil, a feat he supposedly accomplished after his death. This echo's the chaining of the mythical wolf Fenrer, by Thor, technically done by Tyr, but Thor took it upon him, and since the wolf only allowed the third chain, having broken the other two, to be placed upon him if someone would put his hand in his jaw, Thor was excluded, because he needed both hands to yield his magic hammer against the giants and what not.
So in the early days around the 1500's Saint Nicholas was seen as chaining the devil, or a black evil person, which is a frequent tradition in pagan tradition. Perhaps it was in those days that the Devil was nicknamed Black Peter (Zwarte Piet) in the Netherlands, as Saint Nicholas had defeated the doctrine of Peter, that Jesus was the son of God, and not God, which was a major schism in Christianity. Later this black Peter would change into his servant, and even later his black servant would be dressed as a Spaniard, as the Dutch where at war with the Spanish. Later Black Peter turned into a Moor (moor means black). It was in those days that the whole racist connotation came into play, as the word negro also means black, and black Peter was always portrayed as less intelligent.
Off course in norse or Scandinavian tradition there has always been the tradition that Odin would visit the houses around Christmas, and be informed about the children and give presents to the good children and punish or even kidnap the bad. So to what beter place would Black Peter take the children, him coming from Spain, than to Spain. Saint Nickolaas being the patron saint of the sailors, even though owning a horse that could walk on rooftops, would come by boat from Spain.
The whole Santa Claus story is mainly inspired by Odin, and only bares the name of Saint Nicholas, who died December 6th, while Odin would visit the sky and the houses of ordinary mortals around December 25th.
Off course all throughout Europe there are different versions and different companions of Saint Nicholas like Krampus in Austria.
***
This article is also available in Dutch: http://vegetarianchefcooks.blogspot.be/2017/11/waarom-heet-black-pete-of-black-peter.html
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter↩
2 https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Simon-called-Peter-in-the-Bible/answer/Gregory-Scott-5?srid=n8rR↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
http://bobkaylor.typepad.com/bob_kaylor/2012/12/a-christmas-life-the-real-saint-nicholas-a-sermon-for-christmas-eve.html
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