Dreary February Spawns a Carnival!
February 2009
Carnival in Den Bos, renamed Oeteldonk for the duration of Carnival |
Dutch February tries one's patience for the long winter to begin evidencing modest transitions to spring. My studies saw punishingly long hours and stacks upon stacks of tomes. The damp cold, general darkness, long commutes, and relentless work became a small 'midnight of the soul'.
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Lucky then that Carnival arrives this time of year to the Catholic southern cities in Holland. Intended to allow one to 'purge' one's bad habits prior to Lent, Carnival is a worldwide phenomenon, with unique regional incarnations. Indeed, Sir James Frazer proposes in 'The Golden Bough' that this tradition goes back to pre-Christian Roman antiquity and the celebration of Saturnalia. Indeed, there are many remarkable similarities amongst Carnival celebrations around the world and there is some case for there being a Roman and even Pagan lineage (in so as the Romans were famous assimilators and adopters of conquered cultures and religions). The aspect of Mummery, costuming, Bacchanalian consumption, as well as the election and ascension of an idiot king, the reversal of class distinctions, and general notions of inviting the return of spring via unfettered revelry are all potentially a genetic lineage back to ritual Paganism.
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A typical Den Bos Carnival crew: Blue farmer coats, local colors and omnipresent Heineken |
A symbolic Carnival friend of yore: Mr. Punch (or Pulcinelia) |
This year I convinced some of my classmate pals to visit Den Bos for this unique celebration. The southern Holland city of Den Bos (or 's-Hertogenbosch) has its own unique takes and traditions related to Carnival. A local businessman becomes the prince of carnival, locals dress as farmers (in the long blue coat pictured above, often with a traditional cap), parades and drinking abound. The city becomes 'Oeteldonk', Frog Town, for five days (a nod to Den Bos having been dredged from swampland). For a period in the late 1800's teetoataling city leaders outlawed Carnival within Den Bos proper. The retort was ridiculous but effective: the populace endeavored en masse to rename the city 'Oeteldonk' during Carnival, thus no longer violating prior legislation.
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The tradition of picking a new mayor (or king, stretching back to antiquity) enhances the notion that social rules are turned on their ear for the period of festivity. Oeteldonk is an upside-down rural world, a bizarro representation of normalcy that serves to vent and expose the rather ridiculous aspects of pomp and officialdom. The tradition thus is a semi-sanctioned 'letting off of steam' related to class enmity but also represents the modern stalemate of social power vacillation between the forces of ritual-filed Catholicism and stern Protestantism in southern Holland. Even today the northerners in the small country of Holland spurn this tradition, while the 'below the river' southerners lampoon and jeer back.
For additional photos, see my Flickr photoset here!
Welcoming 'Prince Amadeiro' of Oeteldonk, Frog Town, who arrives via train
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