Kyria's journal

It is Dutch custom to celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas on the eve of 5 December. On this night, the saint visits every house and brings presents with him for the children. St. Nicholas is accompanied by his helper, who is called Black Pete. Through the years, the saint has gathered more and more helpers, all of them black, with red lips and big golden earrings. Traditionally, Black Pete is played by Dutch (white) people who put on blackface and the matching outfit.

Some say that Black Pete is of african descent and that is why he is black. Others say that Black Pete is black because he climbs through chimney's to deliver packages. F
Fact 1: putting on blackface is racist
Fact 2: referring to people as helpers is not racist
Fact 3: portraying all the helpers surrounding St. Nick as black people: why?

Here's a picture of St. Nick driving into town on his rooftop climbing white horse.

Solutions have been offered in previous year to make some changes in order to make this annual festivity less racist. For example, Black St. Nick and White Pete:

Or Pete's in every color! Rainbow Pete:

This year, the discussion around Black Pete is bigger then ever. Even the UN is chipping in, with a research into the question: is the tradition of portraying black people in a stereotypical way racist?. I can save them the effort: yes, it is racist to put a charicature of a person in black face out there. That is why the role of Pete has been changing through the years: he doesn't talk with a stereotypical accent any more. The lips are less pronounced and there are many more new Pete's helping St. Nick who are all individual people, with their own strengths and weeknesses. We are not there yet, but changing the world takes time. 

My conclusion of the whole discussion is that the (Dutch) media have too much time on their hands and they are filling it with talking about Black Pete. Public outrage is fine, as long as it is channeled towards finding a solution. So far I have seen very few constructive solutions. How about turning Pete into a real person instead of a character?

What is your opinion?

I picked up the special made soles in the hospital in The Hague today, and noticed an immediate difference when walking. Less pain in my knee! Though after an hour, my muscles started to protest and I put them away aain. The foot technician recommended to wear them longer every day, starting with one hour an taking it up with an hour a day. Tomorrow's queensday wanderings will start with the soles. I just watched Kate & William's wedding on the news bulletin, and they are gorgeous together. Good for them for kissing twice instead of once :)

While I was in The Hague, I witnessed the preparations for Queensnight. Traditionally the old Queen Juliana celebrated her birthday on April 30th. The current queen Beatrix decided to stick with that date as her birthday is January 31th, which is an awful season for the traditional outdoor festivities. Though the Dutch occasionally question whether we still need our royalty (most of the time because they cost us money) overall we are blessed with a very down to earth royal family that takes a real interest in their people. And let's face it, revolutions with pitchforks and guillotines are soooo 18th century and don't want to spend our precious free time on dethroning a lovely 72 year old lady with hair set in conrete. Here she is:
 

Throught the years, the younger people added Queens night to the celebrations. A night with music, beer and people wearing silly orange hats. The Hague is the official location of the Queen (she has several palaces: one in Amsterdam, one in Soestdijk (in use as a museum) and one in The Hague). IT was nice to walk in the sun and see the pub people setting out extra tables, burly man building stages and testing PA systems. In Utrecht the 'free market' starts tonight. It's our country's biggest flee market, where everyone can drag junk from the attic and try to sell it on the street. A lot of people will wake up tomorrow, wearing an orange sombrero or crown and clutching a lampshade with no clue on why or how they got it. In short, the famous Dutch stingyness will go down while beer levels go up. I won't go out tonight because beer is not my thing and I'm way to thrifty for my own good, but I wish everyone who's going out a great time! 

*edited to add congratulations to all the British flisties on the wedding of William and Kate. w000t!!

This weekend was family weekend. Saturday the women of my mothers side of the family did a workshop 'dancing through feelings' which was fun. very basic moves, but every dance had a different feel to it. A little bit to goddess dance for me at times, but fun nevertheless. Afterwards we had a typical family meeting with the men, sitting around chatting and (ofcourse) eating. My grandmother from my fathers side wants us to eat at parties because that's 'gezellig' (see footnote). With my mother's family it's the other way around: being around them is so much fun that you keep on eating little bites without realizing how much you had. The food was made by an indonesian lady who is a friend of the family and who made the most delicous saté EVER! tender meat, tasted like it was roasted over an open fire and with pieces of onion inbetween. We want to do a workshop together about preparing Indonesian food this year, after all, it's in our roots :) Spending more time with my family is one of the things I want to do this year. I grew up with birthday parties, family meetings and sleepovers all the time. I didn't spend much time with them in the past five years but having so many 50th birthdays to celebrate last year made it clear to me that my family won't be around forever. My nieces and nephews are adults now, and every member of my family does something that's fun and unique. I could spend hours listening to the stories they have to tell.

Oh, the TNT guys knocked on my door to deliver my kick-ass bellydance swords!!
these are the ones
So I'm putting my old sword on sale, and start practicing with these. They're really heavy but so much cooler then the swords you can get in the Netherlands. It had an extra customs bill but overall the price is very good.


Sunday's dinner with my father went well. We got to meet his new girlfriend whom I had a really good conversation with about theatre and literature. I got a bonus from my grandmother that went into my 'savings for Egypt' fund and I didn't even felt guilty about being a less then perfect granddaughter/daughter and still getting money.

*note: 'gezelligheid' appears to be a typical Dutch expression, unfortunatly less well known then 'apartheid'. We like to huddle together and play old Dutch boardgames, or just hang out and chat. It's about feeling at home no matter where you are, emjoying the company. A mixture of fun, cosy, and comfortable and good old Gouda cheese..