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Krakelingen Festival

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  • ABROAD
Feb 28 2011

Every year in the Belgium city of Geraardsbergen, about 800 residents parade through the streets in costumes that evokes it’s 25-century-old history. Started by the druids, and ending with more contemporary subjects, the parade combines both Christian and pre-Christian elements. Led by the church dean and city councilors, participants carry bread, wine, fish and fire from the church of Hunnegem to Oudenberg Hill, climbing up to the Holy Mary Chapel on the hilltop, the highest point in the city. Inside, the dean blesses the krakelingen (ring-shaped breads) and recites a prayer. The religious and secular authorities then drink wine from a sixteenth-century silver goblet containing tiny live fish, which has recently become a controversial custom. They then throw the krakelingen into the crowd, one of which contains a winning ticket for a golden jewel, especially created for the event.

Animal rights activists recently lobbied to have the practice of drinking the live fish banned. Whilst only a handful of city authorities now take part in this, one would hope that the festival is now safeguarded as the festival has since been recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), or living culture. They state that cultural heritage is not only expressed through buildings and artefacts, but also communicated through language, music, dance, storytelling, festivals and rituals. Krakelingen ‘yields a strong sense of continuity and historical awareness for its participants, evoking historical events and legends passed on from generation to generation.’

 

 
BelgiumdrinkfestivalfishGeraardsbergenKrakelingenparadewine
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About this blog

The vast majority of posts in this blog are about quirky & eccentric competitions & festivals. I started it in 2006 in France with a competition I’ll never forget. Where contestants battle it out to become the World Champion Pig Squeeler, or ‘Cri du Cochon’. I had little knowledge back then of quite how far my pursuit of these kind of events would lead me. I’ve travelled all over Britain (and occasionally further afield) to capture our curiosities and quirks. There’s nothing uniquely eccentric about the British, you’ll find people all over the world up to all sorts of weird and wonderful activities, but we do have a remarkable capacity to embrace the madness. ‘A Brit Different’ is the book that was born from it, my labour of love! So what next? There’s always something interesting going on, so watch this space, only time will tell!

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