Zwarte Piet (Dutch: [ˈzʋɑrtə ˈpit]; Luxembourgish: Schwaarze Péiter; West Frisian: Swarte Pyt; Indonesian: Pit Hitam), also known in English by the translated name Black Pete, is the companion of Saint Nicholas (Dutch: Sinterklaas; French: Saint-Nicolas; West Frisian: Sinteklaas; Luxembourgish: Kleeschen) in the folklore of the Low Countries.

Those portraying the traditional version of the character, since deemed a racial stereotype, usually put on blackface and colourful Renaissance attire in addition to curly wigs and bright red lipstick.

By 2021 a revised version, dubbed Sooty Piet (Dutch: Roetveegpiet), had become more common than the traditional variant at public events and in television specials, films, social media, and advertising.

[4] Sooty Piet features the natural skin tone of the actors playing the character with soot marks created by streaks of dark makeup on their faces.

[13] According to a long-standing theory first proposed by Karl Meisen,[14] Zwarte Piet and his equivalents in Germanic Europe were originally presented as one or more enslaved demons forced to assist their captor.

They might even take very poorly behaved children to their homeland of Spain in burlap sacks where, according to legend, they'll be forced to assist them in their workshop for an entire season or longer.

In 1845, the Amsterdam-based primary school teacher Jan Schenkman published the book Sint Nikolaas en zijn Knecht (Saint Nicholas and his servant in English).

[21] In 1884, Alberdingk Thijm recalled that, when he was a child in 1828, he had attended a Saint Nicholas celebration in the house of Dominico Arata, an Italian merchant and consul living in Amsterdam.

On this occasion, a man portraying Saint Nicholas had been accompanied by another described as "Pieter de Knecht ..., a frizzy haired Negro" who brought a large basket filled with presents[citation needed].

In 1833, an Amsterdam-based magazine printed a humorous reference to "Pietermanknecht" while describing the fate that those who had sneaked out of their houses to attend that year's St. Nicholas celebrations were supposed to have endured after returning home.

[22] In 1859, the Dutch newspaper De Tijd noticed that Saint Nicholas was often accompanied by "a Negro, who, under the name of Pieter, mijn knecht, is no less popular than the Holy Bishop himself".

According to a story from the Legenda Aurea, retold by Eelco Verwijs in his 1863 monograph Sinterklaas, one of the miraculous deeds performed by Saint Nicholas after his death consisted of freeing a boy from slavery at the court of the "Emperor of Babylon" and delivering him back to his parents.

[25] One version of the folklore surrounding the character suggests that Zwarte Piet's blackness is due to a permanent layer of soot on his body acquired during his many trips down the chimneys of the homes he visits.

[30] Nickelodeon in the Netherlands also decided to use a racially mixed group of actors to portray Piet in their holiday broadcasts instead of white people wearing dark make-up.

Among them are the singers Leon Krijgsman and Herman van Doorn who released songs promoted with music videos featuring Piets played by white actors.

In Eindhoven, anti-Piet demonstrators were surrounded by an estimated group of 250 people described as "football hooligans" who attacked them with eggs and shouted racist insults.

Windows were smashed, nearby vehicles were vandalized, and fireworks were shot into the building where the group was planning protests in 12 communities that still feature traditional versions of the character.

"[39] In the wake of the George Floyd protests in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated in a parliamentary debate on 5 June 2020 that he had changed his opinion on the issue and now better understands why many people consider the character's appearance to be racist.

[42] Additional companies followed suit, among them Bol, Amazon, and Coolblue, who each decided to remove traditional Zwarte Piet products and promotions from their services.

[48] Owing to the character's traditional depiction, which often involves white actors and volunteers dressing up in blackface while wearing black wigs and large earrings, Zwarte Piet became increasingly controversial beginning in the late 20th century.

Opponents argued the character was an insult to black people while supporters considered him a harmless holiday tradition and an inseparable part of their cultural heritage.

[52] American writer David Sedaris critiqued the tradition in his essay "Six to Eight Black Men" and British comedian and activist Russell Brand spoke negatively of the character, dubbing Zwarte Piet "a colonial hangover.

[67][68][69][70] The George Floyd protests and subsequent Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the Netherlands in 2020 led to a further decrease in acceptance of the traditional version of Zwarte Piet.

[72] Santa & Pete, a 1998 novel by Christopher Moore and Pamela Johnson, features an Americanized depiction of Zwarte Piet loosely inspired by the Dutch folklore.

[75] While Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry) and Earn (Donald Glover) are on tour in Amsterdam, they encounter multiple people in blackface celebrating the Feast of St.