This is a little explanation as to why there is a character called Black Pete in the Amazon Miniatures Santa Claws Gang pack. In fact Black Pete is specifically a Dutch Christmas character and he is one of Santa's helpers. Paul of Amazon Miniatures is half Dutch and so had the benefit of celebrating (and getting presents) from Sinta Claas  on the evening of the 5th December and from Father Christmas on the 25th.

According to the Dutch version of the legend, Sinter Claas arrives simultaneously in every city in the Netherlands bearing gifts for well-behaved children. He is always accompanied by Zwarte Piet, or "Black Pete". In various versions of the Sinter Claas story, Black Pete is depicted as male or female, of normal stature or as a black dwarf.

Zwarte Piet always wear colourful and jovial costumes. They are adorned with gold earrings and hats with feathers and are generally considered simple and full of beans characters. Their role is to assist Sinter Claas by performing various holiday tasks, like delivering presents down chimneys and recording names of naughty and nice children in Sinter Claas' book of names.

While Santa Claus leaves chocolate and sweets in the shoes of children, if the children have been naughty then Black Pete takes the nice presents and replaces it with lumps of coal. The child who is really naughty is threatened with being placed in Black Pete's sack and taken back to Spain - surely a throwback to the Catholic wars with Spain.

Despite his colourful image, Zwarte Piet is a very controversial character in the Netherlands. He is called Black Pete because of his dark colouring, and while some attribute his skin colour to the soot from the chimneys he slides down, others criticise the character for being an old-fashioned stereotype and racist symbol. In fact the original legend has St Nicolas travelling to Spain where he meets and befriends a moor by the name of Peter who accompanies him on his travels through Europe.