A case of discrimination or misunderstood admiration?
One of the nicknames of Zwarte Piet is pieterbaas [Pete the Boss]. Even though Saint Nick is the leading figure at these annual children’s parties in the Low Countries, it is Zwarte Piet who controls the situation. He may threaten the kids with his birch rod, an instrument ordinarily used to sweep chimneys, but will do so only in jest to make sure the kids were not…
