Black Pete: A racist cultural/Christmas tradition that should be left in the past?

[Jon AS]

German Wiki says that only happens in Nordrhine-Westphalia and Hessen. St. Nick fills boots with little presents (or a Krampus comes and leaves a stick or coal for bad children) down here too, but eating anthropomorphic bread with a red tongue is done on the 6th December too.

The names in that wiki are great. I think I like Dambedei most.

St. Martin is traditionally seen as the day when grape juice turns into wine, so nowadays it is just an excuse for people to drink copious amonts of wine (and possibly eat duck).

I have to admit I'm seriously contemplating starting an edit war over the name of that article...

 

St. Martin hereabouts is about children building somewhat elaborate lanterns which they then carry in a procession that ends in a big bonfire (and usually there's some guy cosplaying St. Martin in Roman armour, which I freely admit to always finding much cooler than a lantern). Then said kids go around the neighbourhood to ring on doorbells and, when someone opens, sing a song. They then get rewarded with candy (or fruit, if they're unlucky).

In the days leading up to it, people can buy tickets for charity lotteries, the main prize of which is a goose (I assume it's already dead and ready to be cooked, but I can't say I've ever won).

 

As far as folk traditions inspired by Christian saints go, this is one I really like. The whole dichotomy of reward and punishment that's kind of inherent to most St. Nicholas traditions isn't really my thing.

Plus, not much racist imagery with St. Martin, though I imagine geese would have some complaints to voice.

[The guy from the Vale]

I have to admit I'm seriously contemplating starting an edit war over the name of that article...

 

St. Martin hereabouts is about children building somewhat elaborate lanterns which they then carry in a procession that ends in a big bonfire (and usually there's some guy cosplaying St. Martin in Roman armour, which I freely admit to always finding much cooler than a lantern). Then said kids go around the neighbourhood to ring on doorbells and, when someone opens, sing a song. They then get rewarded with candy (or fruit, if they're unlucky).

In the days leading up to it, people can buy tickets for charity lotteries, the main prize of which is a goose (I assume it's already dead and ready to be cooked, but I can't say I've ever won).

 

As far as folk traditions inspired by Christian saints go, this is one I really like. The whole dichotomy of reward and punishment that's kind of inherent to most St. Nicholas traditions isn't really my thing.

Plus, not much racist imagery with St. Martin, though I imagine geese would have some complaints to voice.

I'm with you. The article should obviously be named Grittibänz, if only for the sheer ridiculousness of that name. 

And I know what St. Martin's is, don't worry. I have lived in Germany for long enough to know. But when I was a child living in Switzerland, it was quite strange an idea. The only region in Switzerland where St. Martin's is still a thing is the Jura at the border to France. Well, I guess Zwingli and Calvin were just too successful over here.

On a related note, research on this issue has led me to the insight that the Alsacian bogeyman accompanying St. Nicholas was Hans Trapp a.k.a. Hans von Trotha, an actual German renaissance nobleman. Wikipedia is one of those places where you start out looking for one thing and discover thousands of other things.

As for the geese, let them complain. As long as they're as delicious as they are, I don't care

[Gertrude]

I know that in the Czech Republic they have St Nick accompanied by an angel and a devil. I am not claiming to know the history and details of the tradition, it's just something I am aware of. The devil I've seen called 'cert' (pretend I spelled that with the correct mark) which means black, so I'm guessing it's part of the same root tradition. I completely get the reactions to Black Pete, but I'm also hesitant to say it's something that should be gotten rid of entirely. Just looking at the Czech tradition at face value, I don't see the problem with it, but where would the line be? Isn't the devil cert just another version of Black Pete? Does having the angel by his side automatically make this more palatable, no matter what the origins? I don't know. Instead of getting rid of Black Pete, would changing his appearance so that it is unambiguously soot that is referenced, no matter what his real origins were, be enough or even then not acceptable?

It's not my tradition, so I don't have a horse in the race, but looking at images of Black Pete depicted in blackface make me cringe.

[Marcus Agrippa]

where I find the concept of race generally ridiculous because melanin, if it will get humanity off this stupid concept then I support its ban. Tribalism is bad anyway, anything to dismantle its traditions can only be progress.