Everyone knows that Santa lives in the North Pole with his little elves and travels in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. But in Belgium they believe Saint Niklaus is from Spain and arrives in a steamboat manned by black slaves all called “Zwarte Pete” (Black Pete). Children fear the Zwarte Petes as they are the enforcers of the “naughty or nice” policy that the jolly bearded guy subscribes to. Kids run the risk of a severe thrashing from Zwarte Pete if they appear in the naughty section of St. Niklaus’ twice-checked list…

Extremely naughty children are threatened by parents/teachers with the prospect of being snatched by Zwarte Pete, bundled into a sack, and taken to Spain where they’d be forced to make toys for the good children until the following Christmas. Needless to say, Belgian boys and girls grow up fearing black faces. Yet it’s not surprising the country has such a complex about colour considering the crazy shit they pulled in colonial Africa.

Zwarte Pete is typically portrayed by a white person with a blacked-out faces (actual black people aren’t too impressed by the whole myth, weirdly).

DWID HELLION