I’m sure most of you know Holland has legalized prostitution, soft drug ‘coffee shops’ and a general attitude towards personal freedom that tends to stun most non-natives. But did you know we have our own “everything goes” version of Santa Claus?
I do realize Dutch (and Belgian) Santa traditions may freak out some people in the US: we enjoy a dominant white Santa, who whips you with his rod (uh, kinky) while running around with six to eight “black servants”. Is this custom just beyond weird or would you enjoy our Antwerp Santa? [Video: “Six to Eight Black Men”, an essay on Christmas customs in Holland and Belgium by David Sedaris]
This blog is not affiliated with or endorsed by the city of Antwerp, Belgium.
The first time I read this essay was years ago, and I was laughing out loud and E was giving me puzzled looks. Then I moved to Belgium and saw Black Pete, who frightened my very white American children who were quite accustomed to black people but NOT white people MADE UP to look like black people. This properly freaked out their perfectly formed little consciences. They knew they had seen something WRONG. This was like walking in on Grandma while she’s using the bathroom! The look on wee E-Grrrl’s face was amazing.
Hearing David read this essay is perfect. I must send my American friends by for a laugh.
Comment by V-Grrrl — November 24, 2007 @ 11:10 am |
I’m glad you enjoyed it V. You actually prompted me to search for this YouTube video in one of your previous comments.
For any child being used to the rather overweight American Santa, this fake Black Pete who is visibly wearing black make-up must be beyond words. You know, Sedaris is actually stating facts, in his funny own way. Dutch Santa songs actually mention “getting whipped with his rod if you’ve been bad”.
As a very young child, it freaked me out: getting slightly older I became painfully aware of black Pete’s fake black color and Dutch Santa, well, although drag queens were rare in those days, I sure felt like pulling his beard and messing with his make-up. You see, I had it all in me, right from the start
Comment by Peter — November 24, 2007 @ 12:08 pm |
This post has been copied by yet another commercial site (running ‘ads by Google’): http://www.urlfan.com/local/santa_claus_whips_you_with_his_rod_assisted_by_six_black_slaves/54397915.html
Please note that commercially abusing my work is ‘not appreciated’.
Comment by Peter — November 28, 2007 @ 2:13 am |
” Santa Claus whips you with his rod, assisted by six black slaves ”
Sounds like a GOOD day to me.
Comment by Claudia — December 7, 2007 @ 11:45 pm |
It sure does sound good Claudia, although I noticed I must go easy on the erotic innuendo.
You see, I’m getting an awful lot of traffic lately, predominantly based on catchy blog titles. 800 visitors may sound like a job well done, but some of these visitors really expect ‘adult content’, and like we all know, I’m not offering any. On the other hand, I was actually posting about the reality of Dutch Santa, who does ‘hit you with his rod, assisted by six black slaves’
Comment by Peter — December 8, 2007 @ 12:58 am |
fuck yall racist people
[posted by 'christina' (IP: 216.54.49.242 , nps.k12.va.us), 18 december 2007 17:28:00 UTC+1]
[Comment from the author: "I could mail a request to the Norfolk Public Schools administration at http://nps.k12.va.us/ to check if posting real dumb comments during school hours is part of their curriculum. But I won't bother. Please refrain from trying to post nonsense, especially if you appear to be too dumb/ignorant to comprehend what this post is all about. Comments are moderated. You are one of the people that forced me to have a moderation queue.]
Comment by christina — December 18, 2007 @ 5:28 pm |
I live in the netherlands and yes..they are slaves and yes, santa kicks little children when they are doing bad stuff. but thats good, because thats justice
.
Comment by oscar — January 12, 2008 @ 8:28 pm |
[...] slaves. No, there’s no connection with the USA, my dearest readers, we just have extremely weird local Christmas customs [video]. Have fun and keep on shopping, we have to save the world’s [...]
Pingback by Santa Claus does Antwerp, in drag with his black slaves « Antwerp Calling — December 4, 2008 @ 9:29 pm |