Zwarte Piet
Sign in to saveAlso known as Black Pete
companion of Saint Nicholas in the folklore of the Netherlands and Belgium
Key facts
- Other name s
- Black Pete, Schwaarze Péiter, Swarte Pyt, Pit Hitam
- Similar entities
- Krampus , Knecht Ruprecht , Belsnickel , Père Fouettard
- Folklore
- Dutch
- Known for
- being the companion of Sinterklaas
- Country
- Netherlands , Belgium , Luxembourg , Curaçao , Aruba and Indonesia
- Region
- Benelux and former Dutch colonies
- Habitat
- Spain
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Part of
- Companions of Saint Nicholas
- Gender
- male
- Country
- Netherlands
- Image
- Cover book Mee in den Zak, 1940.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- native label
- Piet
- indigenous to
- Belgium
- Commons category
- Zwarte Piet
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
A person in a traditional Zwarte Piet costume A person in a modernized Sooty Pete costume
Zwarte Piet ( Dutch: [ˈzʋɑrtə ˈpit]; Luxembourgish: Schwaarze Péiter; West Frisian: Swarte Pyt; Indonesian: Pit Hitam, Sinterpit), also known in English by the translated name Black Pete, is a companion of Saint Nicholas (Dutch: Sinterklaas; French: Saint-Nicolas; West Frisian: Sinteklaas; Luxembourgish: Kleeschen) in the folklore of the Low Countries. Traditionally, Zwarte Piet serves as an assistant to the saint and distributes sweets and gifts to well-behaved children.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Zwarte Piet” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.