How the Saint lost his Catholic character, regained it and then also became for workers

‘I never believed in Sinterklaas myself. Or well, not really. I come from a reformed family. We did celebrate Sinterklaas, with presents and later also with surprises and poems, but it was made clear that the presents did not come from him. With my sister I secretly liked to sing songs that mocked Sinterklaas a bit. Until we were called to him together in front of the whole school at primary school. Then we started to doubt whether he didn’t exist after all and had heard us with those songs. Yes, you’re a child so you don’t believe it, and somewhere maybe you do.

“Actually, I came upon this subject more or less by accident. After studying art history in Nijmegen, a friend asked me if I wanted to participate in an exhibition about the history of the Sinterklaas celebration in Maassluis, where the entry took place that year. That was successful, a year later we repeated that exhibition at the entry in Dokkum and also once again in Apeldoorn. Then I thought: I have to do something with this. We had so much material. I wrote an article about it with three others Modern time, a magazine about the Low Countries from 1780 to 1940. With them I started a foundation for research but socially relevant history – but this was our only subject (laughs).

“Around that time I saw an advertisement from the Open University for a PhD position, you could submit your own research proposal. That appealed to me enormously, I love freedom and diving into something myself. Now I’m in the middle of the nineteenth century to investigate how the Sinterklaas celebration took the form of a national celebration. I view the change of the celebration in the context of three themes in which emancipation plays a role in different ways: Catholic emancipation, the rise of the labor movement and the debate about slavery and colonialism. You can see that there is a clear interaction between those movements and the Sinterklaas celebration. There is great material about that: diaries and letters, children’s books, newspapers and magazines.”

Roman superstition

“After the Reformation, pastors had started to preach against Sinterklaas, they saw it as Roman superstition. There is a well-known book by a Reverend Sceperus who rails against fathers who put footsteps in the snow on the roof, or imitate a horse with a horseshoe, to make children believe that Saint Nicholas had been there. The party continues to exist, but the Catholic is a bit off. Saint Nicholas is therefore not always a bishop, sometimes a nobleman or an ogre, with a black face and rattling chains. The Catholic emancipation in the nineteenth century brought more attention to the Saint as bishop. Anti-Papist and Orthodox Protestants then begin to argue for its abolition in favor of Christmas. That made more sense to them.

“Liberals took advantage of the celebration to do charity work for needy children, influenced by the social issue. Socialists had nothing to do with that, such parties of the elite kept the workers dependent and confirmed the social order. People liked to use the image of the working-class child who presses his nose against a richly filled shop window. At the same time, the party also became an opportunity for them to mobilize workers. Socialist associations and the Social Democratic Union started organizing their own Sinterklaas parties. Domela Nieuwenhuis used the party in a brochure to denounce abuses. Only if everyone could join in the celebration would society have changed for the better.

“The development of the ‘black servant’ is complex. He was not seen as a slave per se, but he is in a colonial context. The awareness of the colonies and the Netherlands as a colonial power was increased by, among other things, the debate on slavery and exploitation in ‘the East’ and ‘the West’ and by books such as Max Havelaar (1860) and Uncle Tom’s cabin (1853). In that context, different meanings attach to the figure. Sometimes he is a Moorish page in period costume, sometimes a contemporary servant in livery. In a letter, the entrepreneur of a steamship company is asked for “a Javanese” who can come and play the black servant.

Also read Everyday Science of November 19, 2021: Who blackened the servant?

Reflection and booster

“Much has already been written about Sinterklaas, but not so much in the context of emancipation and the changing relationships in the nineteenth century. That’s what matters to me, not about a folk origin of the customs, or about right or wrong. I think that Zwarte Piet is now disappearing is inevitable and also necessary. That’s how it goes. Sinterklaas has always been a reflection and driver of social changes.”

“I deliberately write my dissertation in Dutch, capturing nuances and connotations works best in your first language. It is also really a Dutch subject. I still have no idea what I want to do next. I enjoy doing research. But maybe I want something completely different. Every few years you have to turn your life around. I now celebrate Sinterklaas in a toned down form with my in-laws. We draw lots and send each other a surprise.”