Nardo Lala

Greetings, With apologies for the late payment. PayPal: transcaction : 4K5015177W6207522 / ​Bot: LumberJack / owner: Nardo

bot LumberJack has been paid for another year ( was due 1st Sept ) Transactiereferentie: 7D779617HA8037712

Haha, I am glad your back YD, ( and so will I soon, hope to be back ingame from next weekend again ) Looking forward to help out again with whatever is needed.

My opinion: is it really a problem? ( with the exception of some special days ) Instead of grinding our teeth how busy it is sometimes at some storage and how one should behave and where to sit, the old rule, one’s advantage could be/is another one’s disadvantage, springs to mind. Perhaps solve it yourself: there are also many storages which are most of the time almost empty, for easy manufacturing or just dropping off, most also have the same resources close by, sometimes even more convenient then the ones used to, it just takes a bit of effort and exploration. Instead of irritating yourself follow your (avatar’s) little white feline friend’s advice However, as a possible suggestion: Perhaps introduce at some very popular storages an assistant (with a non manufacturable area around them, like VOTD storage is) for instance Dessert Pines, place an NPC outside close / next to the entrance of the storage cave (only for dropping off / pick up), the storage NPC inside is for making things. The same perhaps, in my opinion, at the most popular manufacturing storage, Portland, or in Morcraven Marsh, place a new storage NPC, non manufacturable, a little closer to the Battle Hall.

My stance in this is the same as it was in 2011 when this thread started: one of the reasons why some botowners don’t want to have their gc amount made public is because of players who try to scam / steal from them ( it has happened ), another reason why some bots have no gc is they just offer to ‘buy’ it just to inflate prices on the market, not to actually buy them, another reason is because the owners don’t play anymore. Normally I also check webpages first before travelling. There are bot owners who would mind if their gc amount on the bots would be made public, I don't, but if not too difficult to code: add the option to opt out/in and any botowner would be happy. Its up to the customer to trust and travel to bots without their gc amount not public. See for the rest my post here above, my opinion on this has not changed.

Perhaps a simple search in the correct part of these forums - the suggestions section - will help ps: bats/vampires ( as creatures ) I remember suggesting this some time ago, but that was long before we had any flying animals.

Let's make it a groovy one

Hi Vino, nice idea indeed, if I understand you correctly and you are talking about open / active bags only.

I agree with both of you, it would be a decent thing to do, I personally would do also but we are not all the same. However no one is to 'blame' but the seller, even after the second trade Susje could not know if Domino would come back. Its up the bot owner to change prices to his/hers personal plans, planning or demand and can do so at anytime depending on stock and sales, even minutes after each trade if he/she would like to. As far as I know there is or are even bots who do this automatically. At the actual trade the buying price is mentioned in the dialogue from the bot to the seller, the total amount is also in the trade window. If the seller does not look and just click click, only him/her is to blame, if he/she would have read the bot’s text and noticed a discrepancy in the amount, not agreeing with the trade he/she could click cancel anytime. As Domino wrote, it was his own sleepy heads fault, nothing more.

I could be wrong but in my opinion no one was scammed, it was impossible for Susje to know if the first trade ( from that player) was also the last trade for that moment or if more were to come from that player / that day. There was no communication between players or deals made in advance. Its all up to the bot owner to value its clients or not, some do, some don’t.

Indeed, have seen it suggested before and still support it, including what Saxum wrote, would be a great improvement to gameplay.

Just my personal opinion on your question, to include enriched essences to the ingredients for these spells would make them probably used ingame as much as the summons which need enriched, which in my opinion is a pity

Perhaps you have seen something in the news about it, this year or last, or you probably will be again soon. Before this is getting out of control, please hear me out so at least you have some background information so you can form your own opinion, if you have questions, search and thy shall find, otherwise I am willing to answer any. For those who still believe in Santa Claus, please stop reading. Black Peter is Racism This whole thing is in my personal opinion humbug, totally non-sense, the Black Peters in the celebration of Saint Nicholas birthday on the 5th of December in the Netherlands have nothing to do with slavery, racism or are even representing any of the Negroid race. They are fairytale figures from midwinter celebrations already held in Europe and Scandinavia long before any trade ship had sailed east. Just like Santa, or his elves, they simply don’t exist, they are fantasy figures. It has all started a couple of years ago as an art project by a young black Amsterdam artist who wanted to see the reaction on his ‘claim’. Black Pete is Racism. It was not a debat he wanted, not a question for dialogue, there was more. It started low key but by wearing t-shirts with that claim during the actual (televised) welcome parade, aiming to get arrested to get national media attention, this followed later by posting stickers on lampposts all over the city in Amsterdam, and perhaps other cities, with the same claim, people were day in day out, sub-consciously confronted with this message. I shrugged at first, like most of us, not realizing the subliminal danger, until I was so sick of it that I decided to remove the stickers on my route. Repeat the same message long and often enough and people start to believe its true. Then protests started, a small group, but still enough to catch the media, during the annual welcome parade, the people who were against him deliberately turned their backs towards the welcome parade, changing the atmosphere instead of fun and exciting into threats of anger and violence. This parade is aimed at families with young children. No parent wants their children in such an atmosphere. For those who have no idea, short version: Sint Nicholas is a fairytale like Santa Claus we tell to small children, he likes to gives presents to children who were good, he rides a white horse which can not fly like Santa’s reindeers but it can jump and walk over rooftops. The group of many Black Peters listen on the roofs ( at night, unseen ) at the chimneys to the children singing before bedtime and tells Nicholas if they have behaved good or bad that year (on which he decides if they deserve what they asked for), and they help him distribute the many presents the night of his celebration. Sometimes he pays a short visit to children at home that evening handing out the gifts, sometimes just leaves the presents mysteriously. They all arrive a few weeks before with a big welcome parade through the city and disappears without a trace after the celebration on the 5th. As you can see this is all aimed at small children. ( The origin of this all was the story / celebrations of Odin and his ravens during the midwinter solstice. ) Last year the group of followers of the claim that Black Peter was Racism and represented slavery in their vision had already grown and insisted that Black Peter should already change the way he looked, he had to look more human. This followed by a court case towards the city of Amsterdam to have the annual welcome parade completely stopped if Black Peters were also in it. This year, a few weeks ago, during the annual remembrance of the ending of slavery, where also foreign guests from the UN were present, members of the same group loudly disturbed that official ceremony claiming focus on themselves. The Dutch are pushed into an opinion and accused that they are racist if they don’t agree with the claim, even if they know by nature that Black Peters have nothing to do with racism and/or slavery but is an imaginary figure which, as the name suggests, is pitch black. This is an awful feeling which effects our daily life. The judge in the court case regarding the parade in Amsterdam so far has declared that “Black Pete is indeed not racism, but could be offensive for people of dark colored skin who are unknown to the background of this figure”. The final verdict (if the parade last year in Amsterdam was allowed with Black Peters included as they were and ( more important ) if this year is allowed is expected soon. Most of the Dutch are not afraid to change the Black Peters, they don’t care if his/her skin is blue or yellow, or any color of the rainbow, even though it should be as black as the night if we go back historically. It is mainly the reason why behind it all why more and more of the Dutch are so upset and getting angry about it all. What I am personally afraid of, and many of us, if the Dutch must change the way they celebrate this annual childrens celebration, would be the claim of another individual or a group, against perhaps the gay parade, or religious head scarves, or jazz bars, or that for instance some old ladies, specially if a little crooked, feel like they would be looked upon and spoken too as if they were evil witches. All images of witches should be removed from fairytale books, after all, did we not burn them only a few hundred years ago? Racism is inside you, if you have it, not in a fantasy figure. Thank you for reading this. Nardo

Thank you Maxine, you are so right and I am glad some still survived there And yes, as I wrote in my first post, I worry most about the next. Some more fun facts The Saint Maarten celebrations on November 10 / 11 are very popular in certain parts of the Netherlands, in some parts / villages it is hardly or non-existing. The lampions / lights used in the procession used to be made in the old days from sugar beets (like the jack-o-lanterns). I believe they represent the Witte Wieven (the wondering lights / ghosts) There used to be bonfires and special markets, luckily in some parts of the South of Holland and Belgium this is still happening. In some parts of Flanders (Belgium) Saint Maarten took over the tasks of Saint Nicholas (and still does) including, haha, the Black Peters. The Saint Maarten celebrations held in November or the Nicolas celebrations in December can vary from village to village It is all about goodwill, hope, and sharing, this has been the very existence of the celebrations, nothing more, nothing dark, no slavery or colonial racism.

Thank you.

If it only could be so simple, Black Beauty was the name of a horse, named this way by its owners, a Black Peter is a description or a definition. This is a little more serious, this is about families who are keeping their children at home when Saint Nicolas and the Black Peters visit their school, families where small children are taught that Black Peter is bad and a symbol for racism, this is about daily life and the people you always used to greet and talk to now turn their heads, this is about being looked upon as a racist, for all the wrong reasons. This is about national historical figures that have nothing to do with colonial racism or slavery. This is about people who immigrated to our country and project their own national history into ours without looking at that countries own history. Believe me, there is enough empathy in The Netherlands, many of us are thinking of how to solve this the best possible way for everyone involved. There are and have been also harsh words (form both sides) and some comments (from both sides) on social media over the years which makes me ashamed to be Dutch or pale skinned sometimes. My personal view is that Black Peters appearance / make-up should be as dark black as dark black can be, so no-one knows who it could be behind it, as they have been and should be. (small children have very good skills in visual recognition) No rainbow colored ones, nor brown tones, not even my beloved purple, nor orange or smurfs blue, nor Gouda cheese or syrup waffle style, nor just smudges like Amsterdam will introduce this year so the person is almost visible. All these ideas, made with best intentions will only work towards the ending of the Black Peters (and make no sense in my personal opinion) and more important will only add to more polarization and discrimation among the children instead (just think about it for a while and it will pop) In an ideal world (haha) I would like to have the Witte Wieven back as well, mingled in with the Black Peters, this would make I think everyone happy, including the people who are against him, but my chances are zero. Reason: they have disappeared from the Nicholas celebrations in the 15th century since the powers with the Protestant Church invaded our country and banned the saint Nicholas celebrations from church and public. When we regained our freedom and slowly the celebrations were held in public again only the Black Peters returned with Saint Nicholas. Only very, very few people in the Netherlands actually knows that the Witte Wieven / white ghost people used to be once part of the Saint Nicholas story. (I did not until I started my research) Does anyone know why one of them has disappeared in our history or/and the countries around us? Lucia, Ruprecht, Krampus or Foettard seem to me so very related to either our Black Peters or our Witte Wieven. Anyhow, as you can see I am passionate about this subject, the reason I have explained a few posts above, this however will be my last post on this for a while, noticed I am starting to repeat myself sometimes Please feel free to ask questions though, I will gladly answer them. For those who have no idea what this is about, go right to the top and start Why I am writing all this? I leave that up to you to answer. I was raised in the 60ies until a young child in a religious orphanage with unorthodox methods. I know what it was like to be slave, to be punished and abused, physical and otherwise, without any reason. To have no family, to have hunger, to belong to someone/something and have no freedom of your own. My only friends were the limited books I was allowed to read. Did that make me a bitter person, hell no. I always look ahead and over the edge not backwards. There are only 2 important days in every child’s year in Holland, his/her birthday and Saint Nicholas. The complete misinterpretation of Black Peter, calling them a symbol of colonial racism probably trigged things for me. One of the reasons for me is also Radu, yes him, when I started playing his/this game way way back in the beginning, I had a small problem in-game and I e-mailed it to him. His reply was friendly and to the point solving my challenge in a sec, I was more baffled however by his e-mail signature. “What is worse apathy or empathy? who knows, who cares..” Not only came this from a person who (in my opinion) had humor, it was also the kind of humor I like and practice myself. To make you laugh and sometimes make you think about it at the same time. I took that thought since then in the back of my mind along my travels. Because my first reaction was.. well, I do... With the means I had/have to my possession I have traveled the world, as before, with art and music as my friend, guide and language. Over the years I have visited many countries, I learned, laughed, worked, admired and was amazed by the many other cultures, the beauty of nature, the impressiveness of architecture. The meaning of symbols and ceremonies. What human’s were/are capable of in creating and destroying. I have enjoyed so many variations of warmth, friendship and hospitality and learned new angles of looking at things. So yes Radu, especially with the Black Peter challenge we have happening in our country I can answer that question now, I know now which one is worse. Thank you for reading, Nardo

Haha, ever wondered why there is a decorated tree at Christmas? Back on topic for those who are interested in the Is Black Peter Racism subject: When Christianity was spread in our region, it mingled with the existing Germanic pagan religion. Thus, elements of the pagan faith were incorporated into Christian practices and vice versa. This also happened with the figure of St. Nicholas. The similarities between Odin / Wodan and Nicholas are remarkable. Both are invoked as patrons of naval navigation and trade. They have wonderful powers and are generous mild givers: Wodan gives the seeds for the harvest. Nicholas protects his people from famine. Both Nicholas and Wodan are associated with righteousness and with marriage. The word, poetry and runes of Wodan, the god of wisdom, find an equivalent in the Gospel book and the word of the Catholic God. These striking similarities made ​​it probably possible for a number of pre-Christian elements to find refuge in the Nicholas Worship. The Santa Claus figure, as we know from the customs, rituals and stories today is determined by elements of both cultures. The high stature, long, white beard, Sleipnir, the eight legged horse that raves through the air and the long surrounding mantle are characteristics of Wodan what we find in slightly modified form back in Saint Nicholas. The miter, the sign of ecclesiastical authorities since the 8th - 10th century, the white alb, the Bishops mantle and the staff / crook are characteristics of a bishop. Later the book was assigned to St. Nicholas as an attribute, who despite his omniscience about the behavior of the children still makes notes according to the information he receives from the Black Peters. The book in which good and evil is recorded is clearly derived from the Bible. The seeing of Sinterklaas refers to the seeing of The Catholic God. Wodan’s inventions was also the one of runes (Germanic characters) which are up to today still made and eaten only in this period: the chocolate letter, the butter/almond and pastry letters are one of the most popular candies (to give and receive) during the Saint Nicholas period. It was believed then that by eating these signs of wisdom they increased ones own. The winter period after autumn comes, with all its wealth of fruit and seeds, as a time of death and darkness, living green is driven away as well as light and heat. To express their hopes for the return of the sun and the fertility of the land in the spring the people offered some of their fruits of the field (carrots, beets, nuts and others seeds) They hoped that the god Wodan would bless them during the midwinter celebrations with seeds of life and a good harvest in next season. Wodan rode, according to myth on a white horse through the air. (which refers to the white horse of Saint Nicholas riding on the rooftops) As god of life, the breath of life, Wodan scattered the seeds of life around. There were two half gods/half demons often with him, Huginn and Muninn (Thoughts and Memory) which often took the shape on earth as large black ravens, they could talk with other birds, to scout, assist and protect Wodan and inform him what was happening below with the humans, exactly the same as what the Black Peters are doing. Fruits were offered in the hope that Wodan would provide for a good harvest (The beet and carrot given as a thank you present in the shoes for the horse of the Saint). It was believed that the smoke of the sacrifices would curl up, in the hope that it would be noticed by Wodan hoping for his blessings (later this became chimney and the gifts of the Saint). The problem in the history of the Netherlands are the two parts of it; are your roots / family history in the mostly Catholic south, you will as a child have a different memory and experience than if you were from the largely Protestant North. For one, The whole Sint Nicholaas celebrations have a lot of important historical and mythological significance, for others it is no more than an additional fantasy figure. Some people look no further than a certain time period, maybe because it works out well for them or they simply do not know, (The Protestant Church removed the whole Saint Nicholas celebrations and many other when they invaded us and took power) Others do look further into the history and see Black Peter, indeed since the beginning an important part of the festivities in honor of St. Nicholas. Ever since the introduction of the celebrations of St. Nicholas in the Netherlands children who were dressed up held parades in the villages in the south. With one child as a bishop (St. Nicholas) the rest as White / Witte Wieven and Black Peters. They were going door to door to collect money, clothes, toys, food etc. that was later distributed to the orphans and poor by the church on the day of the Nicholas celebrations. The Black Peters have not always looked like they are looking since the Golden Ages, before that they were completely black, top to bottom, and often in the shape of a bird (raven) or black fantasy animal. In old Dutch the name Witte Wieven means a white spirit, ghost or fallen angel, Black Peter meant devil, demon, thing of the night. Take a look at medieval paintings and you will see that all the demons and devils are always black. Most of them are composed of several animal elements, some have human features. It is a travesty in my eyes that especially Amsterdam must have a leading role in this matter, a city that was founded around the first St. Nicholas Church (the Old Church), according to the myth a bunch of men in a boat cried out for the help of Saint Nicholas during a heavy storm for rescue and safe arrival. At the place where they could go ashore they built a chapel in gratitude. That is where Amsterdam started. It is the protesters not about any adjustments of the Black Peters, I believe that they will not stop until the Black Peter disappeared from the celebrations in Amsterdam; the rest of the Netherlands will follow by itself later. The verdict of the court case regarding the city / major of Amsterdam that he/they allowed the annual welcome parade last year with the traditional Black Peters, without realizing / caring enough that it could be offensive to a part of the dark colored population in Amsterdam because they are possible unknown to the history is still running. The verdict is expected half / end November. Like I said before, I don’t think anyone (defenders and action committee) will stop until some international court verdict. It is sad that a festivities with the meaning: hope, love, surprise, thinking and giving to others is, is being destroyed totally for the wrong reasons. Thanks again for reading, hope you harvested something meanwhile J Nardo

Update Even though still only early autumn, the case of Black Peter has been several times in the Dutch media the last few weeks. There have been several large polls now, the result have all been very similar, approximately 96% of the population (no matter what race/religion, born here or elsewhere) in the Netherlands would like to keep Black Peter as he is/they are, about 3,8 % does not care, 0,2% is unknown of his background and/or sees him as a racist stereotype. The challenge is that for the Dutch the story and history of Saint Nicholas and the celebrations is slightly different, it all depends if your heritage/family has roots in the mainly Catholic south or the more Protestant north part of the country. They both have quite a different view and history in this matter, for one the Black Peter is a significant historical / mythical part, for the other he means nothing more then just an added fantasy figure. The artist, who started it all, has stopped communicating with the mayor of Amsterdam regarding the annual welcome parade in Amsterdam and the role of the Black Peters in them. His official reason was that he is done with it all, the real reason is that it has showed several times that he himself is in fact one of the worst racist people we have living here at the moment in The Netherlands. The ‘lawyer’ who laid the official claims to the city of Amsterdam last year has been disclosed as a corrupt and un-ethical person, claimed in the media that he stopped because of possible threats he had received by e-mail, the real reason was he was announced bankrupt that week by the tax offices due to many unaccounted and shady transactions. He was specialized in fixing visa’s for foreigners who were rejected by the Dutch authorities. A different action group (the same who disturbed the annual official remembrance at the ending of slavery this summer) stormed the city house and demanded loudly a meeting with the major after he had announced that the city will fight the decision of the court last year. He also announced at the same time that the appearance of the Black Peters would slowly change in the next 4 years. For this group this is not fast enough, I fear myself that they will demonstrate again during the parade this year among the families and children. A very popular, and with long roots in the Netherlands and their people, however now in the hands of foreign owners, chain of warehouse shops called HEMA announced that they had decided to remove any image of Black Peters from their next seasons in-shop displays and wrapping papers. A large protest was heard in the media, there was talk about people boycotting the shops because of this. Later with an update it was announced that the idea was still under consideration. Fisher Price and Playmobil have decided to no longer produce their special Saint Nicolas play sets featuring Black Peter, one of the sets has been awarded as toy of the year in 2011. The stock, which was still available, was sold out within days after this news. The same for this year’s classic Black Peter make up sets. A new commercial songbook has been written and a cd recorded, aimed specially at children at kindergarten schools, the classic songs have been re-written, all references to Black Pete have been changed/removed. Again several protests in Dutch media that this is killing Black Peter and it should not even be considered before any official verdicts. The guild of Black Peters (guild of volunteers who act as) finally reacted as well, that it was long enough that their reputation was smudged and heritage wrongly interpretated, they also decided to official claim against last years court verdict and announced that the celebrations should be an official part of Dutch heritage at Unesco. The largest supermarket chain in our country Albert Hein announced that the seasonal special candy in their shops would carry the images of the Black Peters, however there would be a ban of Black Peter in their advertisements and TV commercials, instead a new White Peter will be introduced. The reaction in the media in the Netherlands was so big that they advertised in the newspapers an apology in rhyme (custom to the 5th December celebrations to accompany a present) to Black Peter himself the next day. In Gouda (each year a different city/village gets the privilege to host the annual arrival parade which will be televised nation wide) announced that they would have some yellow Gouda Cheese Peters and Caramel brown Syrup waffels Peters, among the Black Peters, handing out cheese and waffels instead of the traditional candies. According to the major as a comical wink in this quite polarizing and political discussion. In Amsterdam it was announced yesterday that for their arrival parade this year among the traditional Black Peters a new kind of Black Peter will be introduced who will be only having a few black soot wipes on their faces. (like the rubbish collectors in Victorian times) Tomorrow is the big day; the court case will start then. At the moment it is only for Amsterdam, but whatever the verdict will be it will be followed over the years by other cities until nation wide.

It happened by accident, is this better?

If it would be considered a new skill, with its own knowledge tree (books) and minimum required skill levels (like magic) to be able to deconstruct the higher level items requiring the enriched and rare items, then yes it is an interesting idea perhaps. Let there be then a small chance to recover also the rare/enriched items as an incentive for leveling up this skill. On the other hand, is it all worth it? With all the training, items and time required, to level up the deconstruction skill itself, and also quite important: the always present chance of critical failures involved: as mentioned before, would it not be cheaper, faster and more interesting to make/harvest/buy the ingredients you are trying to de-construct instead?

Nice idea Entris, well thought out. At first I also thought, eek that’s high, but a high goal is a great incentive, I would leave the actual the numbers though to Radu, for he probably would know best. I like the fact that rewards are in stages, bronze, silver, gold, so all players are covered, from noob/players with little time, to casual, to pro. Excellent. I like the fact that it has to be done within a certain time period, beautiful hook, line and sinker. It will reward the players who play already on a daily base, and will nudge players who are in limbo to choose EL instead. Excellent. Hope it will be considered.

Haha, Lyndy, guesh what… never let it get to me though, was way to happy and proud that I was one of the lucky ones. Back on topic: First, please find yourself a comfortable and safe position to harvest something meanwhile, it could be a long read. I have posted about this subject some time ago, this was an update. Just to make sure, I haven’t made this post and the first to point fingers, to blame anyone, just to let you know what has happened and is happening. I believe information and education is the key to insight. The reason I think this whole art project has started is because of lack of knowledge. This is in my vision the history of Saint Nicolas and Black Peter(s) *steps on a soap box* Black Peters and Saint Nicholas have changed their appearances in the Netherlands over the many centuries since they were created and are an re-enactment of a myth/fantasy, however the essence of the celebrations has been kept intact; goodwill, hope, sharing. For instance Amsterdam, (which has Saint Nicholas as a patron, to watch over its city & its sailors since middle ages) has currently over 180 different nationalities living within its city, each with different symbols, ceremonies, beliefs and religions. Many years ago the city council decided, because this is a celebration for all the children in the city, no matter what race or religion, that Nicolas should loose the religious symbols on his clothing/outfit during his annual welcome parade, the same as some years before that Black Peter should loose their bunch of twigs (I will explain later). Last year, by demand of the action comity, the Peters lost their golden earrings, their lips became less red, their appearance became more ‘humaneske’. Years before that they were also often seen with, besides a large sack full of candy and presents, also with a bunch of twigs in the other hand, for the kids who had misbehaved that year, they were left in the shoe’s as warning instead of a present, some parents hung them up as a reminder for them, perhaps next year if your good, and sometimes they were used as a tool by the parents, it was custom those days to punish misbehavior with physical punishment. When that was abolished also this symbol was removed. The biggest shock (amongst elderly kids who no longer believed and parents mainly, children of kindergarten age who believe in them really don’t care) appeared when color television was slowly introduced in the Netherlands in the 60’íes and the black makeup became sometimes dark brown make up because it looked better on color camera with the technology in those days. However no racism was seen in it, or intended, the mythical figures where still there, doing their things, loved as ever, they were then and are still now just a different shade sometimes. The celebration has had since the appearance of a picture book mid 1800 a more educational factor aimed a small children, this book explained the story to them and the message: be good and get rewarded, perhaps, be bad and you don’t, always. Mainly due to this book the popularity of the celebrations had a large revival. The public celebrations of Saint Nicolas have been banned for a long time. I bet that the artists who had to make those drawings for that picture book at that time had many nightmares, had made plenty of other versions before it was finally approved by the church to be included in that book. I am sure there were drawings made as well of men/woman looking as blackbirds or devils, dark angels, etc. among the rejected ones. In the first printed version of that particular book Black Peter is black wearing a white outfit, in later versions a colorful costume which is still with some variations used today. If we go way, way back, before there was electrickery (thank you Catweazle) what we now call The Netherlands was only populated by perhaps a tenth or less of what it was now, and like the Caribbean Islands our country and people have been conquered, enslaved and used as a province by quite a few rulers. One of them had a very strong religious power behind them, the Catholic Church, and away should be those pagan rituals and celebrations, because during the midwinter feasts a for them much more important celebration was priority for the people to follow, the celebrations of the birth of their savior. And so the date was moved, a myth was created by the church for the people using elements from the original pagan solstice celebrations (some can still be found today) The bearded pagan god on his flying horse creating thunder while riding the sky became Saint Nicholas and his white horse, Odin’s/Wodan’s demons/ravens, to protect, scout, assist, inform, etc. became the Black Peter(s). In medieval Dutch the word Black Pete has the meaning of demon/devil/creature of the night. It is unknown (at least I could not find it) why he/they have stuck as Ying and Yang by Nicholas as they do, as they did before, was it pure awe? mind control? enchantment? converted? To be honest, if you just think what image the Church wanted to portray, I very much think it was the last option. Could it be by enslavement? Even though it is possible, it was happening by that time, in even one of the myth of Nicholas it is mentioned that he saved a slave while alive, (*) however I don’t think the Catholic Church wanted that message to sent out; converted and convinced demons/fallen angels (by the mythical powers of Nicolas) were much more convincing to the gullible public and would only add to the myth in their project to convert the pagans to their belief. I have read several folkloric stories and myths, not one of them, to my knowledge, contained the words chains, checkles or enslavement. * (…, and let the sea burn saving a village, did wonders to unmarried women, saved drowning children, ships and sailors, to name a few). For those who don’t know, it usually happens that your named/titled by the Catholic church a Saint after you have passed. Was it before often a landowner who shared (disguised and under the cover of darkness) with the help of friends/loyals some of his money, food, seeds and toys to the needed in his area during the midwinter solstice, the feast of good hope, ending of winter, good luck and prosperity, now this was taken care of by the church and the council. The celebrations were sometimes held with a special midwinter market and often a door-to-door parade of dressed up children (like angels/ghosts and demons/peters) and one child as a saint collecting money for the church to give to the poor. With the arrival/invasion of the Protestant Church (late 16th century) everything changed, it was/is custom for the Catholic Church to honor their Saints with statues, paintings, murals and special remembrance days/celebrations. With the invasion the churches were stripped, statues demolished, murals destroyed, paintings, books etc burned. A lot of special religious days/celebrations, like Saint Nicholas was, became forbidden then, sober & ©lean was the new message. The Saint Nicholas celebrations completely disappeared from the churches, the celebrations continued however secretly within the homes, they carried on hidden even though the church and governors did not approve. Only later, much much later, it was that cities and villages decided to re-enact the Saint Nicholas celebrations again for their community and let them re-appear in public. Especially during the rebuilding of The Netherlands after the world wars ( I & II ) it was noticeable and it was also then that the group of Black Peters grew during the parades, team spirit and together we are strong was then the message. * steps of the soapbox * Does Black Peter resemble slavery, discrimination, and racism? I have been trying very hard over the last years to find it, but I can’t. Black Peters have never been portrayed to be as humans and were never meant to be. When asked why he/they is/are so black, the reason we normally tell is: we don’t know, he/they have been going up and down the chimneys for centuries, no one knows how they do it or the color of their skin underneath. You can shrug and think oh, this is whole Black Peter thing is a problem far away in Amsterdam, in The Netherlands and its about a fantasy figure, about a parade and celebration for small children once a year, it could be however closer to your own doorstep then you think. Even Santa’s elves are in my opinion not completely save. Once again, most of the Dutch are not afraid to change, adept, remove the Black Peters if we have to due to an international court verdict, (because it will probably will be leading to this) even though, in my personal opinion, if it is for all the wrong reasons. I am mostly afraid of the consequences of what will happen next after the verdict. Once again thank you for reading J Hope your bag is full now. If I have got your interested stirred please also check the website of the artist / action comity to see their opinion and point of view also. They are easy enough to find. What I don’t know, what is the story behind Lucia, or Ruprecht or Fouettard or Krampus? these have all similarities and intertwinings to the story/celebrations of Saint Nicholas/Black Peters as celebrated in some countries around us. Is there any link to slavery or racism in them? I searched but could not find it.

My best wishes for a fast recovery.

Not only dye would be needed, also the fabric for the inner lining J Although I would love a purple one, as a first color, what about black?

I noticed that there are a lot of images missing, in my own, and other folders recently in the Gallery here at the forums. Have tried different browsers and original skin etc. but no difference.