Today is December 5th, when those so inclined celebrate Sinterklaas / St Nicholas. The original Santa 😉. Over in Holland, Belgium and Germany, kids will be visited by Sinterklaas (the bishop of Myra, having come in from Spain) and regaled with sweeties and prezzies. This evening, Sinterklaas will go riding along the rooftops on his white charger, dropping presents down the chimneys. In return the kids will have put a shoe by the fireside with a carrot for the horse. Sinterklaas is accompanied by Black Peter (a figure of controversy in latter years). However, there is nothing racist about Zwarte Piet. Sinterklaas was St Nicholas, the bishop of Myra (Smyrna) in modern-day Turkey. When the Muselmen came, his bones were spirited away across the Mediterranean to Spain, and that's where
Sinterklaas is now said to come from. This landmass was occupied by the Moors from North Africa during the 8th century, as far north as Poitiers in France. The Moors were swarthy if not black. Although Black Peter is denoted as a servant (which might derogate him to the N-word), I have never seen anything racist in the exercise. Wish people in Holland would come to their senses and just celebrate an innocent children's festival.
Much better (sorry) than the commercial extravaganza that Christmas has become.I'm sorry, but my upbringing has put Christmas as a firmly religious occasion, during which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, the Three Kings came along with gifts to the newborn King, but does that really mean we have to splash out lavishly on our loved ones - so close after Black Fortnight?
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