Bi-Cultural?

This photo was on the front page of the NRC Handelsblad last week. The accompanying article conveyed the "curious" fact that the children of this heavily ethnically diverse school in Rotterdam celebrated Sinterklaas* at school but not at home. I find the picture wonderful for its irony: the Muslim Marokkan mother with the miter on her head ("The cross? It's just a symbol. For me it doesn't mean anything else beyond that," Saϊd Arab Hssyen was quoted as saying) dressed as St. Nicholas, and the Surimanese children wearing the trappings of St. Nicholas' servant Black Pete.

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* For those not familiar with the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, it is based on the story of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was born in 270 AD in the city of Patara, near the Mediterranean in Turkey. He was raised Christian and in 300 was named Bishop of Myra. He was beatified and eventually was named a saint because of his generosity with helping the poor. The tradition in Dutch speaking countries is that Sinterklaas is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful outfits, modelled after 16th century Spanish clothing. These helpers are called Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes). During the Middle Ages, Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas' eve, the devil was shackled and made his slave. Although the character of Black Pete later came to acquire racial connotations, his origins were in the devil figure. This racialization is reflected in the reworking of the characters' mythos. From about 1850, Pete was said to be an imported African servant of Saint Nicholas. Today however, a more politically correct explanation is given: Pete's face is said to be "black from soot" (as Pete has to climb down chimneys to deliver his gifts).