Zwarte Piet from European traditions was depicted as being covered in soot.
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Introduction

Zwarte Piet originated in Belgium and the Netherlands, and translates into “Black Peter.” He is described as being very black, with big eyes, huge red lips, wearing Asian clothes, and wearing a feathered cap. In some legends he was a servent boy, and in the early descriptions he was not very bright, but after the second half of the 20th century when immigration started, he was more respected. He hangs around Saint Nicholas and leaves small gifts in shoes that are left out by children in early December, before Saint Nicholas’s arrival. If the children were bad he would kidnap the children with his sack and take them to Spain. He is said to carry around a birch rod or a whilp to hit people. He enters the house the same way that Saint Nicholas does, down the chimney. All the soot from the chimney makes his face and hands all black. He appears a few weeks before Saint Nicholas’s feast, this is when the saint is celebrated and welcomed with an extravagant parade as he arrives in the Netherlands by a steam boat from Spain. This is usually December 5th or 6th depending on the location. Many dolls of Zwarte Piet are made and displayed everywhere around this time. These dolls depict him doing different things, for example there’s a cooking Piet, an acrobatic Piet, etc.

A Schism

In 1945, discussions on having more than one Saint Nicholas broke out, but the majority didn’t want to break the tradition. Instead, they added more Piets, they had Hoofd Piet (Head Pete), Rijm Piet (Rhyme Piet) who carried books of Sintersklaas. Sinterklaas was celebrated by the Dutch on December 5th. Presents were given anonymously and most had poems signed by Rijm Piet and were read aloud for entertainment. During this time, if someone did a job or solved a problem they would mention the name of different Piets that helped, for example “it comes from the (chef) Piet”, the adults would really know who did it while the children think that a different Piet helped out.

Some view the Zwarte Piet as racist.
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Slave Originations

The relationship between St. Nicholas and Zwarte Piet is boss and worker, never as owner and slave, although it was believed he was a slave before the emancipation. He needed an assistant since he was old. In some traditions he decided to serve as a free servant rather than actually being free, so there is no obligation.

In Germanic Europe, Zwarte Piet was a devil forced to slavery and to assist the man that captured him, but then in the 19th century he is then a companion.
In modern day Netherlands people celebrate Zwarte Piet by painting their faces black, put on bright red lipstick, put on an afro, and parade up the streets throwing candy to children and adults. Some people see him as tradition while others don’t celebrate him feeling that the character was an expression of racism. Most people don’t consider him African American, they just know him as Zwarte Piet, just as people in America have elves instead.

Since the 20th century people have tried to replace Zwarte Piet with many different colored make-up instead of the traditional black. but the Dutch are not catching on. They believe that it is a symbol of their heritage rather than symbol of racism.