Sinterklaas 4's by marianne

Eindhoven - Netherlands, Noord-Brabant Zwarte (black) Piet is Sinterklaas' assistant. He always carries a big bag full of presents and sweets for children who have been good. The bag has a dual purpose because naughty children are put into it. Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet take the children home with them. Home is Spain. That's where Sinterklaas lives.

Uploaded: Dec, 02 2007 | Taken: Dec, 02 2007| Viewed: 34 times  | 6 votes Camera:  Canon DIGITAL IXUS 800 IS | Exposure 1/50s, f4.9 | FLength: 23mm | SW: Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 Windows

horourke - Dec, 02 2007 01:12pm Answers my question on a previous picture. Is the DSpanish connection some part of royal history? marianne - Dec, 02 2007 01:12pm Hugh, Spain is connected with our history. In the 16th century we fought the 80-year war against the Spanish. Ordinary people knew about Spain, they knew that this was a far away country.Sinterklaas came from far away - Spain, a country where they had black slaves. horourke - Dec, 02 2007 06:12pm Thank you you have oopened a whole new thread of thought here. Marvellous presentation for Christmas. jorgesanchez - Dec, 03 2007 01:12pm Marianne, thanks for the explanation. I know that our Duque de Alba was cruel trying to avoid Netherlands independence from the Hapsburg Empire, but he was punished for that by our king Felipe II and removed from its position in 1573. But we never had black slaves in Spain. Even our Catholic Kings forbade making the execrable trade of slaves from Africa to our colonies in America. The Spanish colonies could buy black slaves because Indians were considered Spaniards, but we never traded with them (although, of course, that is also regrettable and we, too, are guilty of complicity). That repugnant trade was a matter of English (from the port of Liverpool), French (from Le Havre), Portuguese (from Lisbon), Holland and Denmark, who got the slaves in Africa though Arabian intermediaries’ traders. Holland abolished slavery in its American colonies (Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Marteen, Sint Eustatius, Saba, and present Surinam) only in 1863. I like the picture and give it 5 points! horourke - Dec, 03 2007 02:12pm Sorry about asking questions. The various theories about Black Peter's genealogy are discussed in Wikipaedia and no definitive answer appears. Happy Chrismas everyone and let us think about scenery!!! bertison - Dec, 03 2007 03:12pm now i vote 5* because of lyrics, picture 4*, eigentlich;-) marianne - Dec, 04 2007 06:12am Jorge, I know about Spain not having had slaves. The whole Sinterklaas story has been handed down from generation to generation, embellished and most, if not all, was invented. Apart from the fact that the real St Nicholas was bishop in Myra in Turkey. jorgesanchez - Dec, 04 2007 12:12pm Marianne, thank you again. I think that these kinds of historical comments are very didactic for everybody.