A tradition that has taken place at the Dutch Market for years has been on the receiving end of some backlash on social media.
Over the weekend, Dutch Market organizers in Chatham held a Sinterklaas "meet and greet" to celebrate the holiday season. Sinterklaas, a Santa Claus-like character, and his assistant Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) posed for pictures with customers, which were later posted to Facebook. The event sparked outrage online, as the person portraying the character of Zwarte Piet appeared in blackface makeup.
But General Manager Dirk Van den Berg says the character is part of a Dutch tradition.
"[Sinterklaas] has a helper, his name is Pete," says Van den Berg. "He goes through the chimney and delivers goodies to the children, and that's why he gets black and a little dirty, right? That's why he's portrayed as being black."
Van den Berg says they didn't expect the backlash that came with posting the pictures to Facebook. He says the event had nothing to do with blackface, and had no racist intent behind it.
"We were actually a little bit shocked," says Van den Berg. "If we insulted people then we apologize for that, that was absolutely not what we were after."
The blackface character has sparked controversy internationally as well. Amsterdam has announced it will no longer feature the Zwarte Piet character, and instead has the Petes put soot on their face to become "Chimney Piet."
Van den Berg says, if people are offended, the Dutch Market will likely change things next year as well.
"If we offend people in this way, then we're definitely going to change it," says Van den Berg. "Maybe next year we'll have a 'Rainbow Pete' with all the colours of the rainbow, so at least people won't be offended."
