Zwarte Piet

What it is

Zwarte Piet belongs to the folklore of the Low Countries, where he is the companion of Saint Nicholas, known in Dutch as Sinterklaas. He is a legendary figure, not a real person, and he never acts alone: he works alongside the saint, carrying sweets and small gifts for children who have behaved well. In Dutch, several of them are called Zwarte Pieten. The stories give him a home in Spain, the country he and the saint are said to travel from each winter. English speakers often call him Black Pete.

How the season runs

Saint Nicholas's day falls on 6 December in Belgium, while in the Netherlands, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao the presents and sweets are given on the evening of 5 December. The season opens with the intocht, the entry parade in which the saint reaches the country, as a rule by boat after a journey from Madrid. Piets walk in that parade, then visit schools, shops and other places. Their work is to keep children amused and to hand out sweets. Belgian crowds receive speculoos and tangerines; in the Netherlands the scattering is of pepernoten and kruidnoten. The characters belong to this part of the year alone.

Early printed versions

The earliest known picture of the helper comes from a book of 1850 by Jan Schenkman, a schoolmaster in Amsterdam, and shows him as a black Moor. Schenkman's Sint Nikolaas en zijn Knecht had first appeared five years earlier; the revised second edition gave the servant a page's uniform of the sort worn in the Golden Age, which placed him plainly below the saint. The book also set down the arrival by steamboat from Spain, and it stayed in print until 1950. The name Pieter-me-knecht was written by Joseph Albert Alberdingk Thijm in a note in 1850. Other names and likenesses kept appearing until about 1920.

Older beliefs

Nothing like a fixed companion turns up in Dutch pictures or writings between the 16th century and the 19th, so the helper's beginnings remain uncertain. Hélène Adeline Guerber and other historians connected Sinterklaas and his helpers with the Wild Hunt of Odin, whose rider flew on the horse Sleipnir with two ravens that listened at chimneys and reported on people's conduct. The theory put forward by Karl Meisen holds that such helpers were once chained demons made to serve the saint. Others trace them to winter solstice customs in which faces were blackened. Cousins of the figure survive elsewhere in Europe, among them Krampus, Knecht Ruprecht, Père Fouettard and Belsnickel.

Change and debate

From the late 20th century onwards the older costume, dark makeup with a curly wig and red lips, was called a racial stereotype. Newspapers and broadcasters took up the question; a 1987 episode of the Dutch Sesame Street had Pino the bird talk it over with the singer Gerda Havertong. In the 1990s some tried other shades or colours of makeup. Shops, schools and channels later made their own changes, and from the 2010s there were protests and outbreaks of violence between supporters and opponents of the old version. By 2021 the soot-streaked Piet had become the more common figure at public events and on screen.

How Zwarte Piet is kept

The season opens with the intocht, the parade that marks the saint's arrival, usually by boat from Spain. People dressed as Piets walk beside him, and crowds of children come out to see them. After that the Piets appear at schools, shops and other gathering places, where they hand round sweets and small presents and joke with the children. Gifts and sweets reach the children on the evening before the feast in the Netherlands and on the feast day in Belgium. Older songs hold out a warning: a child who misbehaves may find coal or twigs in place of a gift.

When and where

The feast of Saint Nicholas is kept on 6 December in Belgium and on the evening of 5 December in the Netherlands, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. The Piets belong to the weeks that come before it, and the season opens with the saint's arrival parade, which is usually held during November.

Zwarte Piet belongs to Saint Nicholas celebrations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Aruba, Curaçao and Indonesia, the places named as his home ground in the folklore. The custom is strongest in Dutch and Flemish towns and schools, where the arrival parade, the school visits and the giving of sweets are widely followed each December.

What Zwarte Piet means

To the families who keep the custom, the Piets are a familiar part of the winter season: comic figures, a little frightening, who reward good behaviour with sweets and warn children who misbehave. The saint gives; his helpers do the work and carry the blame when a child goes empty-handed. In recent decades the same figure has taken on a second meaning, as the centre of a long argument about race and belonging in Dutch and Belgian life.

Questions people ask about Zwarte Piet

See also

Friday the 13thA Western folk superstition regarding the unluckiness of a Friday falling on the 13th.MawlidAn annual festival marking the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, marked by poetry, processions and feasts.CandlemasA Christian feast of candle blessings marking the end of the Christmas seasonKenduriA communal prayer meal and gathering shared across Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei

Good reading and sources

• Zwarte Piet on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.