Most of the Sinterklaas processions which will take place in the Netherlands over the next few weeks will include characters in full blackface make up, broadcaster NOS said on Monday.

Last week it emerged that the saint’s helpers in Amsterdam will have soot marks on their faces to show they have climbed down chimneys and broadcaster RTL has also abandoned blackface Zwarte Piets.

NOS questioned 223 committees organising processions this year and found only two – Amsterdam and Heemstede – are stopping using blackface Piets altogether. Just 11 will also include Piets painted other colours or with sooty faces and 26 are waiting to find out what the national broadcaster does.

The position of the national broadcaster NOS will be revealed on Wednesday when the daily Sinterklaas news show starts. The show is considered key to the appearance of Piet in many towns and cities because it is watched by so many children every day until December 6.

Support for change

Sinterklaas’s formal arrival by boat takes place in Maassluis on November 12 and will be broadcast live on television. The town says its Piets ‘will express’ the feelings of both the pro and anti blackface lobby.

The children’s ombudsman Magrite Kalverboor said in September that the modern character – blacked up and with thick, red lips and frizzy wigs – contributed to ‘bullying, exclusion or discrimination’ and contravened the UN rights of the child.

A confidential survey by the social affairs ministry found that 21% of the Dutch back changing the appearance of Sinterklaas’s controversial helper. Of the native Dutch, 18% now support change, compared with 43% of people with an Antillean or Surinamese background, the report said.