While Sinterklaas, portrayed as an elderly white man, arrives by ship and rides a white horse through parades across the Netherlands, hundreds of adults and children dress up as his helper, Zwarte Piet, wearing blackface, painted large red lips and black curly wigs, and some with large golden earrings.The basic story of Sint-Nikolaas, or Sinterklaas, in The Netherlands is that he comes from Spain, arriving by steamship, with a black helper, who, when his sack of toys was empty, would fill his bag with children who had been bad and return to Spain.

Most would agree that it was a schoolteacher from Amsterdam, Jan Schenkman, who first introduced the character of Zwarte Piet in an illustrated book, Sint Nikolaas en zijn Knecht, in 1850.

It was a time when the Netherlands was still deeply engaged in the slave trade. The Netherlands didn't abolish slavery in its territories until 1863.

Historian Lise Koning has written about the link between Zwarte Piet and the blackface minstrel shows created in America in the 1800s that were known throughout Europe.

Others connect Zwarte Piet to traditional narratives from the Middle Ages in which Saint Nicholas was paired with a dark helper who represented a tamed devil or evil character.

Whatever the exact origins, it is clear that the character of Zwarte Piet is a tradition and history that many Dutch have yet to come to terms with.