this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
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show transcriptchirasul posted:
my only advice is to BE CAREFUL posting about holiday traditions around europeans. you'll post something casual like "anyone else watch the old Grinch movie every year? what a classic" and a european will appear as if summoned and say some shit like "funny how USAmericans always CONVENIENTLY forget that Not Everyone On Earth is from The USA…….. no of COURSE we dont watch 'the grunch' or whatever the fuck that is…. our tradition is to attend a community showing of Glummdorf the Racial Stereotype"

themainspoon replies with screenshots of several tumblr tags and comments:

riseupriseupandcomealong:
my mom’s (american) class tried doing a language exchange thing w a sister school in spain and they decided to send each other boxes of gifts for christmas. the spanish class made remarks about oh christmas in the usa is so commercialized we have ~real traditions~ here and then my mom opened a box full of blackface dolls and blackface doll ornaments and blackface clothespins in front of her students

raygender:
Did once have a Dutch woman vehemently defend the Festive Christmas Blackface by repeating "it's different in Europe” with increasing desperation until she was crying. Literally all anybody else present did was just like, calmly say they were uncomfortable with the practice and not change her mind when she wailed about it.

monkey-mulch:
you bring up rudolph the red nosed reindeer and they bring out Skimbo the filthy redskin and im barely even joking about that they actually had this thing called indian plays in both soviet countries and germany

themainspoon:
European children waiting patiently on Hatemas Eve for Racism Claus to slur down the chimney and segregate all of their presents by colour.

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[–] teije9@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 4 days ago (9 children)

in the Netherlands we have a guy named Saint Nicholas that gave money to prostitudes and other poor people to save them, who then decided to join him. The best translation for their names i have is 'squires' but not really. Because they go down our chimneys to deliver gifts it's tradition for them to have ash on their face, which some are calling blackface.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwarte_Piet

Sounds like you're referring to the recent (2021) version, "Sooty Pete" but Black Pete has a couple hundred years on him.

[–] teije9@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I've always heard that they were black because of the ashes. and, the original original Sinterklaas rescued prostitudes

[–] megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

… so… why do they wear curly wigs?

… and put on red lipstick?

Does soot make your hair curly and lips extra red?

You forgot the golden hoop earrings 😂

[–] qaz@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Because they go down our chimneys to deliver gifts it's tradition for them to have ash on their face, which some are calling blackface.

This was made up later because people were too uncomfortable with it, this was not the original story.

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[–] WarlockLawyer@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Fun post justification for characters originally based on black slaves.

[–] teije9@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 days ago

the original original Sinterklaas was a guy that rescued prostitudes

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[–] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Since Americans basically stole every tradition they have from someone else, I’m not gonna worry about their opinion on them :D

The US is a toddler when it comes to history and traditions. I drive by a church that was built in the year 900. That one’s actually called the ‘new church’ since it replaced one from the year 400. That’s history. And we’ve got traditions that go back centuries further.

Just because Americans prefer watered down, tame versions of our European traditions, doesn’t mean the rest of us are going to follow. Krampus, Sunneklaas, Sinterklaas and other traditions are here to stay.

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[–] Samsy@lemmy.ml 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In some parts of Germany, the gifts are coming from the "Christ's child" which is an angel, a child, Jesus as a kid, all of them? I am from Germany, and I still don't know.

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It's obviously child Jesus. It's not "Christ's child", it's "Christ (the) child".

[–] Samsy@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Sure, better use child-jesus, the adult one would make everyone sad, especially because he loses the gifts through the holes in his hand. /s

[–] Gork@lemm.ee 13 points 4 days ago

When do I arm my strategic bomber for the War on Christmas? 🛫💣🎄🎇

[–] tfw_no_toiletpaper@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I remember the Atlanta "Sinterklaas is coming to town" episode, hilarious 😂

But I didn't know about this supposed "tradition beforehand, despite living pretty close to the border and went down the Zwarte Piet rabbithole. There was a huge fight nationwide about if it should be banned or replaced (aka ash on fave instead of blackface) and there were a lot of " traditionalists", let's call them racists wanting to preserve their beloved racism custom. There are grown ass people painting their fave pitch balck, lips red, afro wig and gold hoop earrings. Yeah, definitely normal tradition.

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[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And don't forget to spank your women.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Most of my girlfriends were into that.

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 6 points 4 days ago

The Jim Jefferies Show had a good bit on this: https://youtu.be/piGzE2cMVqA

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 days ago

Happy Halcyon Days, everyone!

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