Legend: “So, um, my mom told me uh about this. My mom told me about this. So my Mom’s mother is Dutch right, and grew up in Holland I guess, it’s not, they don’t really do Christmas. Saint Nickolas day which is on the 5th of December Sinter clause (who is Santa clause) he has a companion to Zwarte Pite which translates to Black Peter I think he’s like a Moorish guy. Like Santa’s helper maybe. I think this is where the elves come from. There isn’t a whole group of them, just one. Just like you know one helper. He helps Santa and give good kids treats, but if you’re bad, he’ll hit you with his reed. Uh or his wand, he doesn’t use a reed. That’s Krampus. He hits you with his wand or something weird like that. Or he’ll take you in his cart back to like the Moorish islands or something. Kinda weird. But he’s bumbling and a good companion. Not like Krampus. Like the German tradition. Like this evil demon guy I don’t know if helper is the right word really, he is like this terrifying horrific demon that um will like. Santa gives presents to the good children but Krampus comes to the bad children and beats them with rusty chains and reeds. And then he takes them to hell in his basket.” According to my informant Zwarte Pite is similar to other traditions in the area where Santa Claus does not deal with the bad children, but has a companion do that for him. In Holland, it is a nice spirit that will also reward children but still is capable of punishing them. She believes that the Krampus, which is a similar companion to Zwarte Pite in Germany, is used to scare children into behaving. She mentioned later that Germans have Krampus Nacht, or Krampus night, the day before Saint Nickolas day, where they dress up like the Krampus and parade through the street. She also said that Dutch people do the same with Zwarte Pite but that it is “very touchy” due to having to dress up in black face with bright red lips in traditional clothing. This is a very unintentional form of racism, according to my informant, because the point is not to make fun of black people, but to enjoy Christmas. I believe that the Moorish influence from when Holland was the Sothern Netherlands of Spain from the sixteen hundreds to the eighteen hundreds. Spain has been very influenced by the Spanish moors and this would have moved all the way up north to what would become Holland. Even if the Moors did not travel that far, prejudices would have traveled with the Spanish who moved. Having Zwarte Pite be nice may also reflect a difference in the way that German and Dutch parents raise their children. German parents are very strict while the Dutch are more laid back. There is a reason why tourists love to travel to Holland.
Author Archives: Morgann Ramirez
Hat indoors
My informant heard this from her Vietnamese mother as she was growing up
“Wearing a hat indoors makes you shorter”
My informant is pretty short, so she uses this as an explanation of why she is short.
Asians are, on average, shorter than Caucasians and Blacks, and height is seen as a favorable attribute. Plus, it is impolite to wear a hat indoors, possibly because it means that you do not intend to stay or do not trust your host (you are hiding your face). Combining those ideas creates this idea that wearing a hat, or being impolite, will have a negative effect on how you appear to other people. My informant likes to wear stylish clothes, including very pretty hats, and uses this saying as a joking justification for why she is the way she is. It implies that she would have been taller if she could have resisted the temptation for stylish hats.
Fruit Ghosts
My informant heard this from her Vietnamese grandmother when she was a child.
“When a fruit bruises, it’s because a ghost bites it.”
She thinks it’s weird and funny. She likes the image of a ghost trying to bite a fruit.
Ghosts are much more natural and interact more with the world in Asian cultures than in western ones. Also when a fruit bruises it means its gone bad or damaged which ties in with death. It is as if the ghost cannot fully interact with the world and leaves destruction behind instead. It can’t quite bite through the fruit but it is enough to leave a mark. Fruit is also left as an offering at graves, so it shows that the spirit of the dead person the offering was left for is enjoying the gift.
Sana Sana
My informant grew up in Texas and was raised by her white and Puerto Rican mothers. This is a healing chant that her Puerto Rican mother would sing to her whenever she had a scratch
Sana Sana
Colita de rana
Si nos sena ahora
Senaras mañana
In English it translates to:
Heal heal
Little frog
If you don’t heal today
you’ll heal tomorrow
My informant had a version that she would sing:
Sana sansa
Colita banana
Si nos ahora
Blahblbala
(kiss)
This song is a way of calming down the child when the child is hurt, but also invoking a bit of magic to help heal the child. This version of the song comes from Puerto Rico, a very tropical place where little frogs are common. This is an endearment to the child that also reminds the mother and child where the family is from, especially since the mother has moved away from her home and culture. The second one that my informant would sing is a parody of the original in fractured Spanish which she did not speak fluently as a child. It combined the “a kiss will make it better” with the Spanish song, much like her home which was combined with American and Puerto Rican cultures. She made it rhyme like the original but it gets more and more jumbled as she goes on.
Epiphany
My informant grew up in Texas and was raised by her white and Puerto Rican mothers. She said that this was a holiday that was celebrated in her Puerto Rican mother’s family and they still celebrate it. It is also called día de los reyes which translates to three kings day. It is when the three kings visited Jesus and gave him the gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. It is typically on January 6th, or twelve days after Christmas*. The night before, my informant and her brother would place shoes on the porch, traditionally full of hay but they would use grass, for the camels. Similar to leaving carrots for Santa’s sleigh or leaving cookies for Santa. In the morning, the hay would be gone and there would be little presents in the shoes.
My informant says that this celebration is traditional in Hispanic countries, such as the one her mother is from.
This holiday ties to the biblical story of the three magi and is found in very catholic countries. It is a feast day, but on the thirteenth day, or after the mini month of the year. It is a very liminal period as it includes the New Year. The presents given to the children can represent good fortune for the coming year and be a way of celebrating making it through the transition time from one year to the next. It is a mini new year after the mini month.
*The song “Twelve Days of Christmas” counts down the days from Christmas to Epiphany.