Stitching Holiday Traditions Vanessa Martina

Stitching Holiday Traditions is a special series of the Stitch Please podcast. These are first-person narratives from women in the Black Women Stitch community. They talk about how the December holidays bring about their creative spirit. Learn how their sewing and making enhances their celebrations. Pattern designer, Vanessa Martina, walks us backward, from New Year's Eve through Sinterklaas, describing the four main holiday celebrations in the Netherlands. Vanessa's holiday dispatch offers the sites, sounds, tastes, and smells of celebration, but the festivities are not without controversy or protest. Vanessa reveals both the special joys of the season and how she navigates the racist legacy of Dutch colonial rule in traditional holiday celebrations. From fireworks, indoor grilling, costumed performances, Christmas markets, and skating on ice, this episode pops with personality.