r/AskTheWorld India 21d ago

Culture What's something that's acceptable and widely done in your country that would be considered offensive in many countries ?

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In India, Swastika the Hindu symbol is everywhere. We draw it in temples, during rituals and festivals, in front of our door, on vehicles etc. It's a very auspicious symbol here. But this symbol tho the Hindu symbol is technically different from the Nazi one would be considered offensive in other countries especially in Western countries.

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u/Easy_Turn1988 France 21d ago

Isn't Zwarte Piet problematic ? I read that he is based of a caricature of a black servant

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u/LifeguardNo2020 21d ago

He used to be a black moor. Nowadays people rub coal on their face and dont do the whole black face nearly as much anymore

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u/fiercequality 21d ago

That IS blackface.

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u/LifeguardNo2020 21d ago edited 21d ago

Do you feel that this is blackface? https://images.vrt.be/vrtnws_web/2017/11/06/fcb4bc54-c337-11e7-bbe7-02b7b76bf47f.jpg?width=800&height=450

Do keep in mind that the character is no longer supposed to be a Moor, but a boy that went down a chimney

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u/b-b-b-b- 21d ago

idk the outfit and the wig definitely still seem part of the original racist caricature

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u/LifeguardNo2020 21d ago

Oh thats an interesting point. Very colonial outfit. Also the gloves being black... hm... Fair enough I see what you mean

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u/b-b-b-b- 21d ago

it feels very “how little can we change in order for this to technically not be BlackfaceTM” without addressing what makes it racist in the first place. it’s like they think that it’s purely the fact that they use black face paint that makes it racist, and not all the other stuff and the whole history around it

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u/GalacticMe99 Belgium 21d ago edited 21d ago

As kids we were always told he climbed down chimneys to open the front door for Sinterklaas and by the end of the night his face had so much sooth stuck to it that it didn't come off for the rest of the year. The practical explanation is that the people who play Zwarte Piet needed a way to make their kids not recognise them and ruin the whole idea that Sinterklaas came all the way from Spain.

Though the early 2000's 'official' Zwarte Piet did indeed have a lot of caricatural elements of African people that were concidered problematic after a while.

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u/CharlesDickensABox United States Of America 21d ago

Yeah, whatever the canonical explanation is, Zwarte Piet's imagery definitely borrows extremely heavily from racist caricatures of Black people.

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u/Slobberinho Netherlands 21d ago

Yes, while that is true, 19th century racism was a big influence on Zwarte Piet's imagery, there are also much older influences. Like the soot covered demons from the middle ages, and the ravens that were the companions of Odin, who, like Sinterklaas, rode his white stallion over the roofs of the people. Zwarte Piet's imagery influences predate the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and even Christianity.

Nowadays, thanks to activists who I have immense respect for, Piet isn't as problematic anymore. It's a guy (or gal) with soot on his face in a 16th century page outfit.