Who is (Zwarte) Piet? A Continuing Evolution

More Sooty Piets

Background and Development
Growing Controversy
Change Becomes More Widespread
Controversy Continues
More Sooty Piets
A Turning Point
The Tide Has Turned

'Chimney' or 'Sooty' Piets are showing up more and more in more and more places.

News flash! No blackface in 2019 National Arrival!

September 18, 2019, public broadcaster NTR, organizer of Sinterklaas' official Netherlands arrival, announced that all Piets will have sooty makeup, no blackface this year. "This is a logical next step for us," NTR said, as last year (2018) the Piets were a mixture of sooty and blackface. All Pieten taking part in Apeldoorn will be sooty.

"Today is a beautiful, historic day," Jerry Afriyie, from Kick out Zwarte Piet, said. While happy to see progress in the main parade, activists will continue to push for smaller parades to follow suit, saying, "We will fight for change."

Amsterdam—400 Sooty Piets

2017 saw all the Piets in Amsterdam with sooty faces—no more blackface in Amsterdam. 

2018 brought an entirely new look with the introduction of newly designed suits. The Sint in Amsterdam Foundation (SSIA) is working to keep the Pieten with a look as neutral as possible. The new suits, designed by Ineke van Berge, a retired head of fashion designer, were developed after she studied dozens of paintings, etchings and drawings to develop a new look for the Piets.



The new look is modeled after 16th century Spanish noblemen. Besides the brightly-colored suits, the look features medium length, wavy dark brown wigs.

The new pietenpak is "a means," said the SSIA, "to celebrate the Sinterklaas celebration, the most beautiful children's party in the world, in a way acceptable to everyone."

Not just the roughly 400 "official" Piets were sporting the new look. Others along the route also were clearly "sooty" Piets, too.

Utrecht

The fourth largest city in the Netherlands, Utrecht, has also shifted to having all Piets with new suits and sooty faces.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam, the Netherlands second largest city, is moving toward having just sooty Piets. Following the unrest in 2017, a "Pieten Agreement" was worked out between the Sint Nicolaas Intocht Comité and the Platform Rutu, representing a network of young black people. The agreement would have Piets be 75% sooty in 2018 and 90% in 2019.

However, following the 2018 arrival, it was announced that ALL 200 Rotterdam Piets will be sooty in 2019. Thus moving quickly to ban black piets from the Rotterdam Sinterklaas arrival. Van der Kloot Meijburg, representing the Intocht committee, commented, "We are an organization that listens to the voice of Rotterdam. We want to be an example for the other cities where there are still black Pieten. Rotterdam is not the first city to completely change. Amsterdam and Utrecht have only sooty piets."

Haarlem

Hilversum

In 2019 Hilversum recruited only Sooty Piets for their Sinterklaas arrival.

Media Pieten—NTR

The Sinterklaasjournal, broadcast on NTR, has long set the standards for the Sinterklaas festival. However, NTR is following a process of gradual change, featuring both sooty and black pieten, but without black leotards and gloves, no earrings, and no red lipstick. An NTR spokesperson says, "Every year a small step, every year a little less black." In 2017 there were four sooty Piets; 2018 brought eleven. In 2019 all the Piets were sooty. 

This gradual process satisfies no one. Opponents of the traditional Piet still see Zwarte Piets. Proponents are annoyed to see sooty Piets. Sinterklaasjournaal is no longer the trendsetter and may be seen as indecisive or capricious. Cities and other media outlets are making their own decisions.

The broadcaster says, all Piets in 2020 will have sooty faces from chimneys and no full blackface makeup, golden earrings, or red lipstick. The Sinterklaas shows are "for all children in the Netherlands. We do that with respect for tradition and with an eye on developments in society."

Media Pieten—Nickelodeon

In 2019 forty-six municipalities, including nine of the ten largest cities, have Sooty Piets exclusively, or they are being included as part of a gradual shift. Just twenty did so in 2018.

More change coming in 2020

Groningen has announced the change for 2020 with alderman Glimina Chakor saying, "As of this year, there are therefore only 'Natural Piet' and Sooty Piet.'" In 2019 just one third of Groningen's Piets were sooty, the rest still in blackface.

The Hague has also announced plans to make the change in 2020. In 2019 pro-blackface Piets activists attacked a building in The Hague where Kick Out Zwarte PIet (KOZP) were meeting, smashing windows, vandalizing cars, and attacking with fireworks. There were five arrests.

Eindhoven—2021

Expensive new Eindhoven Pieten were introduced in 2020. They were a form of blackface-light and did not meet with approval. So, in 2021, the Pieten will be sooty, the same as the Pieten on national television. The arrival will be organized by Eindhoven 247, rather than the traditional Stichting Sint NIcolaas.

SOURCES

• "Groningen says goodbye to blackface: only Sooty Piet this year," NL Times NL, May 13, 2020
• "The Hague anti-Piet demonstration can go ahead, councillors say," DutchNews.nl, November 14, 2019
• Zwarte Piet protest group accuses police of failing to protect safety," DutchNews.nl, November 11, 2019
• The battle of the blackface and sooty Petes is far from over: NRC," DutchNews.nl, November 8, 2019
• "Amsterdamse Piet krijgt roetvegen en Andreaskruisen," Het Parool, November 6, 2018
• Sint in Amsterdam, official site for the Stichting Sinterklaas Intocht Amsterdam, the organization responsible for Sinterklaas' arrival in Amsterdam
• Intocht Utrucht, the organization responsible for Sinterklaas' arrival in Utrecht
• "En plots was er 'n Pietenakkoord" by Nadia Berelder & Antti Liukku, AD.nl, November 18, 2017
• "Alleen maar roetveegpieten bij intocht Rotterdam in 2019" by Barbara de Jong, AD.nl, November 21, 2018
• "Elf roetpieten en één Zwarte Piet in eerste Sinterklaasjournaal" by Wilfred TAkken, nrc.nl, November 12, 2018
• "Nickelodeon presenteert ongesschminkte pieten," by Wilfred Takken, nrc.nl, November 4, 2018
• "Geen Zwarte Piet meer bij RTL, wel schoorsteenpiet" by Wilfred Takken, nrc.nl, October 24, 2016
• "No public at Dutch Saint Nicholas party due to coronavirus," by The Associated Press, September 16, 2020, The Standard
• "Eindhoven Pieten to be banned in 2021 Sinterklaas celebration," by Anitha Sevugan, Eindhoven News, October 25, 2021