Lent & Mid-lent
Many of our folkloric customs originate from the old Germanic paganism, but an exception is made for Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) for which they referred to the ancient roman traditions. This is not completely correct. The tradition of disguising came indeed from Rome, but is a fact that the celebration of Shrove Tuesday is simply the preparation to the long period of Lent. People wanted to feast on food and drinks before the Lent-period. This also had another cause: people wanted to finish the perishable provisions which couldn’t be eaten during the time of Lent. Food and drinks go together hand in hand, and when our people celebrate, they do so very enthusiastically ! The celebration around Shrove Tuesday was however not as uniform as we would believe at first sight. It was first of all a celebration of spring, where other forms of celebration than disguising were also used.
This already shows in the celebration at home: the eve of Lent was traditionally pancake or waffle day. In some parts of Flanders the celebration of Shrove Tuesday is the time to maintain the regional traditions: goose-riding in the Antwerp polder, cock-beating in Brabant and Limburg. Furthermore, there are the traditional fires, especially in East-Flanders. In the region of Aalst, the first Sunday of Lent is called “Torchlight Sunday”: children walk with burning torches under the trees for a rich harvest. The “Tonnekesbrand” (burning of barrels) in Geraardsbergen is also a remainder of these Shrove Tuesday Fires.
Old folkloric magazines also contained a lot of begging songs, usually sung by the children, and sometimes accompanied by the rumbling pot. Groups of adults also wandered around, sometimes with a real donkey or with a wooden donkey head, or a horse head on a stick (“prancing horse”).
Mid-lent forms a short interruption in this lean period. In many regions the celebration of mid-lent was seen as the end of winter. Especially for young couples this was a special day. After all, following to an old custom in the northern part of Flanders, it was prohibited during the period of Lent to visit his loved one, except 3 times, which were called:
on Shrove Tuesday: “zijn lief in ‘t zout leggen” (“put his love on salt”)
on mid-Lent: “zijn lief eens omkeren” (“turn around his love”)
on Easter: “zijn lief uit ‘t zout halen!” (“get his love out of the salt”)
The modern carnival is now focused on the massive and spectacular. The local folk festivities have become a tourist attraction. We can ask ourselves to what extent commercial interests can be combined with spontaneous celebrations…
