Dear readers and learners of the Dutch language!\u00a0\u00a0Tonight is an important night in Nederland.\u00a0\u00a0If you hear a knock on your door this evening, you may find a big burlap sack full of presents, molting in the snow.\u00a0\u00a0If you\u2019re quick enough, you may catch Zwarte Piet before he disappears:\u00a0\u00a0that is to say, you may catch one of Saint Nicholas\u2019s helpers \u2013 who, unlike Santa\u2019s elves, have the unfortunate fate of being subject to some twenty-first century controversy, thanks to their frequent appearance in public as poorly-disguised young Dutchmen in blackface.<\/p>\n
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Young Dutchmen in blackface appear in Dick Maas\u2019s\u00a0Sint<\/em>, too.\u00a0\u00a0But they are not, as the saying goes, long for this world.\u00a0\u00a0In a strange turn of events that has itself been the subject of some controversy here in Holland, this November a horror movie was released based on the premise that Sinterklaas was not, as the legend goes,\u00a0born <\/em>on December 6, but murdered<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0And when the moon is full on\u00a0pakjesavond<\/em> (tonight \u2013 December 5 \u2013 and not a full moon this year, thank God), the Sint takes his dastardly revenge.\u00a0\u00a0Needless to say, parents weren\u2019t happy \u2013 particularly with the\u00a0Sint<\/em>-ister movie posters.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2010\/12\/SINT_poster1.jpeg\" "\\"SINT_poster1\\"")
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