Watch: This racist, bumbling, blackface character is part of the Dutch holiday tradition

Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete, is one tradition it’s time to let go of

Josephine Baker meeting Sinterklaas & Black Pete in Amsterdam, November 22, 1957 (Wikimedia)

Beloved holiday traditions are being reexamined for good reason in the Netherlands, where blackface character Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete, has traditionally been part of Christmas celebrations. The origins of the blackface tradition lie in Dutch colonial history and a bumbling Moorish servant character who appears in old Dutch holiday stories.