This week the mayor of Ghent, Belgium Mathias de Clercq, the mayor of Ghent, Belgium, made it very clear this week that hes not on the side of inclusion this holiday season: de Clercq canceled the appearance of Queen Nikkolah, a Black Mrs. Claus, for an event that was anticipated to bring in over 200 attendees.
In the event, Queen Nikkolah would meet with children and hand out gifts, similar to what their traditional white Sinterklaas does when he comes to town on December 5th. Unfortunately, de Clercq felt the need to cancel the event because, as he said to The Guardian, “There is nothing wrong with Sinterklaas as we know him. We shouldn’t try to turn him into something else.”
In 2017, Black European artist Laura Nsengiyumva created Queen Nikkolah, a more inclusive alternative to Sinterklaas (the Belgian and Dutch version of what we would call Santa Claus) and Zwarte Piet. In an interview with The Guardian, Nsenguyumva talked about the making of Queen Nikkolah.
“It came from a need from the community, not only people of color, but I think also white allies who needed an alternative to deconstruct the colonial myth around Sinterklaas,” Nsengiyumva said.
Traditionally, Sinterklaas comes to town wearing the classic red robe and white beard. His controversial sidekick, Zwarte Piet, also known as Black Pete, dons a costume with white people in blackface, afros, and red lips. Over the years, Black Europeans and, increasingly, other races of Europeans voiced their concerns with the blackface character, even going as far as protesting against Zwarte Piet.
Zwarte Piet’s character was originally believed to be a devil during colonial times, but then his origin was transformed to a worker for Sinterklaas whose face is black from the soot in chimneys. But that story has been challenged due to the unexplained red lips and afros. Some people simply say that Zwarte Piet is a slave for Sinterklaas.
Since Queen Nikkolah’s creation, she has become a political debate topic, with politicians saying that the character threatens their holiday traditions. Queen Nikkolah is a sign of positivity and allows Black children to have the same fun that white children do with Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet. Why is it so scary for Black children to also enjoy Christmas festivities?
Ghent showed the very reason why characters like Queen Nikkolah are so important. People are constantly trying to downplay the existence and feelings of Black Europeans, as Nsenguyumva said to The Guardian, “It’s revealing their own xenophobia. Because I am European, I’m a black Afropean. We exist. We need Afropean identity also. If it’s threatening to them, they should ask themselves the question of what is threatening to them? Is it the fact that I’m black? Because there are black Europeans.”