As the name implies, Sinterklaas is the ancestor to Santa Claus. Similarities between the two abound, but the idiosyncrasies between the two are quite obvious. Santa Claus is husky, lives at the North Pole and rocks velour. Sinterklaas is svelte, resides in Spain and admires the fashion sense of Pope John Paul II. The main discrepancy between the two lies in their respective contracts with their workers. Santa Claus has his workers, elves, order gifts online that he, in turn, delivers in a sleigh drawn by magical reindeers to all the good boys and girls in America and its satellite states, protectorates and occupied territories. Sinterklaas’ helpers are zany white guys with soot on their skin acquired from sliding down and climbing up chimneys delivering presents to Dutch kids throughout the Netherlands and its former colonies, the Antilles and Surinam, while Sinterklaas supervises from atop a pale horse. But wait, how did these guys get all this blackface? It seems to be a story worth investigating. In the next installment of the Power of Perception we will investigate the myth of Zwarte Piet as it is told to children. A tale that has been remixed…
