Rural Customs
The Hollander is a very conservative individual, and therefore some
curious customs still prevail among the peasant and working classes in the
Netherlands, especially in the Eastern provinces, for there the people are
most primitive, and there it is that we find many queer old rhymes,
apparently without any sense in them, but which must have had their origin
in forgotten national or domestic events. A remnant of an old pagan custom
of welcoming the summer is still to be seen in many country places. On the
Saturday before Whitsunday, very early in the morning, a party of children
may be seen setting out towards the woods to gather green boughs. After
dipping these in water they return home in triumph and place them before
the doors of those who were not 'up with the lark' in such a manner that,
when these long sleepers open them, the wet green boughs will come
tumbling down upon their heads. Very often, too, the children pursue the
late risers, and beat them with the branches, jeering at them the while,
and singing about the laziness of the sluggard. These old songs have
undergone very many variations, and nowadays one cannot say which is the
correct and original form. They have, in fact, been hopelessly mixed up
with other songs, and in no two provinces do we find exactly the same
versions. The 'Luilak feest,'[Footnote: This day is called Luilak
(sluggard) in some parts of the country and the feast is called
Luilakfeest.'] of which I have just spoken, goes by the name of
'Dauwtrappen' ('treading the dew') in some parts of the country, but the
observance of it is the same wherever the custom obtains.
[Illustration: Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs.]
'Eiertikken' at Easter must also not be overlooked. For a whole week
before Easter the peasant children go round from house to house begging
for eggs, and carrying a wreath of green leaves stuck on a long stick.
This stick and wreath they call their 'Palm Paschen,' which really
means Palm-Sunday, and may have been so called because they make the
wreath on that day.
Down the village streets they go, singing all the while and waving the
wreath above their heads:--
Palm, Palm Paschen,
Hei koekerei.
Weldra is het Paschen
Dan hebben wy een ei.
Een ei--twee ei,
Het derde is het Paschei.
Palm, Palm Sunday,
Hei koekerei.
Soon it will be Easter
And we shall have an egg.
One egg--two eggs,
The third egg is the Easter egg.
They knock at every farmhouse, and are very seldom sent away empty-handed.
When they have collected enough eggs to suit their purpose--generally
three or four apiece--they boil them hard and stain them with two
different colours, either brown with coffee or red with beetroot juice,
and then on Easter Day they all repair to the meadows carrying their eggs
with them, and the 'eiertikken' begins. The children sit down on the
grass, and each child knocks one of his eggs against that of another in
such a way that only one of the shells breaks. The child whose egg does
not break wins, and becomes the possessor of the broken egg.
The strangest of all these begging-customs, however, is the one in vogue
between Christmas and Twelfth Night. Then the children go out in couples,
each boy carrying an earthenware pot, over which a bladder is stretched,
with a piece of stick tied in the middle. When this stick is twirled
about, a not very melodious grumbling sound proceeds from the contrivance,
which is known by the name of 'Rommelpot.' By going about in this manner
the children are able to collect some few pence to buy bread--or gin--for
their fathers. When they stop before any one's house, they drawl out,
'Give me a cent, and I will pass on, for I have no money to buy bread.'
The origin both of the custom and song is shrouded in mystery.[Footnote: A
Society of Research into old folklore and folk-song has recently been
founded by some of the leading Dutch literary authorities, who also
propose to publish a little periodical in which all these customs will be
collected and noted.]
Besides the customs in vogue at such festive seasons as Whitsuntide,
Easter, and Christmas, there are yet others of more everyday occurrence
which are well worth the knowing. In Overyssel, for instance, we find a
very sensible one indeed. It is usual there when a family remove to
another part of the village, or when they settle elsewhere, for the people
living in the neighbourhood to bring them presents to help furnish their
new house. Sometimes these presents include poultry or even a pig, which,
though they do not so much furnish the house as the table, prove
nevertheless very acceptable. As soon as all the moving is over and they
are comfortably installed in their new home, the next thing to do is to
invite all the neighbours to a party.
This is a very important social duty and ought on no account to be
omitted, as it entitles host and hostess to the help of all their guests
in the event of illness or adversity taking place in their family. If,
however, they do not conform to this social obligation, their neighbours
and friends stand aloof, and do not so much as move a finger to help them.
Should one of the family fall ill, the four nearest male neighbours are
called in. These men fetch the doctor, and do all the nursing. They will
even watch by the invalid at night, and so long as the illness lasts they
undertake all the farm-work. Sometimes they will go on working the farm
for years, and when a widow is left with young children in straitened
circumstances, these 'Noodburen' ('neighbours in need') will help her in
all possible ways, and take all the business and worry off her hands.
[Illustration: Rommel Pot.]
In case of a marriage, too, the neighbours do the greater part of the
preparations. They invite the relations and friends to come to the
wedding, and make ready the feast. The invitations are always given by
word of mouth, and two young men[Footnote: In Gelderland we find this same
custom and also in Friesland, but in this last-named province the
invitation is given by two young girls.] nearly related to the bride and
bridegroom are appointed to go round from house to house to bid the people
come. They are dressed for this purpose in their best Sunday clothes, and
wear artificial flowers and six peacock's feathers in their caps. The
invitation is made in poetry, in which the assurance is conveyed that
there will be plenty to eat and plenty of gin and beer to drink, and that
whatever they may have omitted to say will be told by the bride and
bridegroom at the feast. This verse in the native patois is very curious--
'GOEN DAG!
'Daor stao'k op minen staf
En weet niet wat ik zeggen mag,
Nou hek me weer bedach
En weet ik wat ik zeggen mag
Hier sturt ons Gut yan Vente als brugom
En Mientje Elschot as de brud,
Ende' noget uwder ut
Margen vrog on tien ur
Op en tonne bier tiene twalevenne,
Op en anker win, vif, zesse
En en wanne vol rozimen.
De zult by Venterboer verschinen
Met de husgezeten
En nums vergeten,
Vrog kommen en late bliven
Anders kun wy t nie 't op krigen
Lustig ezongen, vrolik esprongen,
Springen met de beide beene,
En wat ik nog hebbe vergeten
Zult ow de Brogom ende Brud verbeten.
Hej my elk nuw wal verstaan
Dan laot de fles um de taofel gaon
'GOOD DAY!
'I rest here on my stick,
I don't know what to say,
Now I have thought of it
And know what I may say:
Here sent us Gart van Vente, the bridegroom,
And Mientje Elschot, the bride,
To invite you
To-morrow morning at ten o'clock
To empty ten or twelve barrels of beer,
Five or six hogsheads of wine,
And a basket full of dried grapes.
You will come to the house of Venterboer
With all your inmates
And forget nobody.
Come early and remain late,
Else we can't swallow it all down.
Then sing cheerfully, leap joyfully,
Leap with both your legs.
And, what I have yet forgotten,
Think of the bridegroom and bride.
If you have understood me well
Let pass the bottle round the table.'
The day before the wedding is to take place the bridegroom and some of
his friends arrive at the bride's house in a cart, drawn by four horses,
to bring away the bride and her belongings. These latter are a motley
collection, for they consist not only of her clothes, bed and
bed-curtains, but her spinning-wheel, linen-press full of linen, and
also a cow. After everything has been loaded upon the cart, and the
young men have refreshed themselves with 'rystebry' (rice boiled with
sweet milk), they drive away in state, singing as they go. The following
day the bride is married from the house of her parents-in-law, and as it
often happens that the young couple live with the bridegroom's people,
it is only natural that they like to have the house in proper order
before the arrival of the wedding-guests, who begin to appear as soon as
eight o'clock in the morning. When all the invited guests are assembled
and have partaken of hot gin mixed with currants, handed round in
two-handled pewter cups, kept especially for these occasions, the whole
party goes, about eleven o'clock, to the 'Stadhuis,' or Town Hall, where
the couple are married before the Burgomaster, and afterwards to the
church, where the blessing is given upon their union. On returning home
the mid-day meal is ready, and, on this festive occasion, consists of
ham, potatoes, and salt fish, and the clergyman is also honoured with
an invitation to the gathering. The rest of the day is spent in
rejoicings, in which eating and drinking take the chief part. The bride
changes her outer apparel about four times during the day, always in
public, standing before her linen-press. The day is wound up with a
dance, for which the village fiddler provides the music, the bride
opening the ball with one of the young men who invited the guests, and
she then presents him with a fine linen handkerchief as a reward for his
invaluable services on the occasion.
In Friesland a curious old custom still exists, called the 'Joen-piezl,'
which furnishes the clue to an odd incident in Mrs. Schreiner's 'Story of
an African Farm.' When a man and girl are about to be married, they must
first sit up for a whole night in the kitchen with a burning candle on the
table between them. By the time the candle is burnt low in its socket they
must have found out whether they really are fond of each other.
The marriage customs in North and South Holland are very different to the
former. As soon as a couple are 'aangeteekend,' i.e. when the banns are
published for the first time (which does not happen in church, but takes
the form of a notice put up at the Town Hall), and have returned from the
'Stadhuis,' they drive about and take a bag of sweets ('bruidsuikers') to
all their friends. On the wedding-day, after the ceremony is over, the
bride and bridegroom again drive out together in a 'chaise'--a high
carriage on very big wheels, with room for but two persons. The horse's
head, the whip, and the reins are all decorated with flowers and coloured
ribbons. The wedding-guests drive in couples behind the bride and
bridegroom's 'chaise,' and the progress is called 'Speuleryden.' Sometimes
they drive for miles across country, stopping at every _café_ to drink
brandy and sugar, and when they pass children on the road these call out
to them, 'Bruid, bruid, strooi je suikers uit' ('Bride, bride, strew your
sugars about.') Handfuls of sweets will thereupon be seen flying through
the air and rolling about the ground, while the children tumble over each
other in their eager haste to collect as many of these sweets as they can.
Sometimes as much as twenty-five pounds of sweets are thus scattered upon
the roadside for the village children. Such a wedding is quite an event in
the lives of these little ones, and they will talk for weeks to come about
the amount of sweets they were able to procure.
[Illustration: A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume.]
[Illustration: Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur.]
At Ryswyk, a little village near The Hague, and in most villages in
Westland, South Holland, the bride and bridegroom present to the
Burgomaster and Wethouders, and also to the 'Ambtenaar van den
Burgerlyken Stand' who marries them at the 'Stadhuis,' a bag of these
sweets, while one bearing the inscription, 'Compliments of bride and
bridegroom,' is given to the officiating clergyman immediately after the
ceremony in church. On their way home all along the road they strew
'suikers' out of the carriage windows for the gaping crowds. Some of the
less well-to-do farmers, and those who live near large towns, give their
wedding-parties at a _café_ or 'uitspanning.' This word means literally a
place where the horse is taken out of the shafts, but it is also a
restaurant with a garden attached to it, in which there are swings and
seesaws, upon which the guests disport themselves during the afternoon,
while in the evening a large hall in the building is arranged for the
ball, for that is the conclusion of every 'Boeren bruiloft.' Very often
the ball lasts till the cock-crowing, and then, if the 'Bruiloft houers'
are Roman Catholics, it is no uncommon practice first to go to church and
'count their beads' before they disperse on their separate ways to begin
the duties of a new day.
A birth is naturally an occasion that calls for very festive celebration.
When the child is about a week old, its parents send round to all their
friends to come and rejoice with them. The men are invited 'op een lange
pyp en een bitterje,' the women for the afternoon 'op suikerdebol.' At
twelve o'clock the men begin to arrive, and are immediately provided with
a long Gouda pipe, a pouch of tobacco, and a cut glass bottle containing
gin mixed with aromatic bitters. While they smoke, they talk in voices
loud enough to make any one who is not acquainted with a farmer's mode of
speech think that a great deal of quarrelling is going on in the house.
This entertainment lasts till seven o'clock, when all the men leave and
the room is cleared, though not ventilated, and the table is rearranged
for the evening's rejoicings.
Dishes of bread and butter, flat buttered rusks liberally spread with
'muisjes' (sugared aniseed--the literal translation is 'mice'), together
with tarts and sweets of all descriptions, are put out in endless
profusion on all the best china the good wife possesses. For each of the
guests two of these round flat rusks are provided, two being the correct
number to take, for more than two would be considered greedy, and to eat
only one would be sure to offend the hostess. Eating and drinking, for
'Advocatenborrel' (brandy and eggs) is also served, go on for the greater
part of the afternoon. The mid-day meal is altogether dispensed with on
such a day, and, judging by appearances, one cannot say that the guests
look as if they had missed it!
It is quite the national custom to eat rusks with 'muisjes' on on these
occasions, and these little sweets are manufactured of two kinds. The
sugar coating is smooth when the child is a girl, and rough and prickly
like a chestnut burr when the child is a boy; and when one goes to buy
'muisjes' at a confectioner's he is always asked whether boys' or girls'
'muisjes' are required. Hundreds-and-thousands, the well-known decoration
on buns and cakes in an English pastry-cook's shop, bear the closest
resemblance to these Dutch 'muisjes.'
When a little child is born into a family of the better classes, the
servants are treated to biscuits and 'mice' on that day; while in the very
old-fashioned Dutch families there is still another custom, that of
offermg 'Kandeel,' a preparation of eggs and Rhine wine or hock, on the
first day the young mother receives visitors, and it is specially made for
these occasions by the 'Baker' nurse.
Funeral processions are a very mournful sight on all occasions, but a
Dutch funeral depresses one for about a month after. The hearse is all
hung with black draperies, while on the box sits the coachman wearing a
large black hat called 'Huilebalk.' From the rim overlapping the face
hangs a piece of black cord. This he holds in his mouth to prevent the hat
from falling off his head. The hearse itself is generally embellished by
the images of grinning skulls, though the carriages following the hearse
have no distinctive mark. If such a funeral procession happens to come
along the road you yourself are going, you may be sure of enjoying its
company the whole way, for the horses are only allowed to walk, never
trot, and it takes hours to get to the cemetery. In former days the horses
were specially shod for this occasion in such a way that they went lame on
one leg. This end was achieved by driving the nail of the shoe into the
animal's foot, for people thought this added to the doleful aspect of the
_corétge_ as it advanced slowly along the road. Happily this cruelty is
now dispensed with, and indeed is entirely forbidden by the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animais, but the ugly aspect of the hearses
remains the same.
[Illustration: An Overyssel Peasant Woman.]
At a death, the relatives of the deceased have large cards printed,
announcing the family loss. These cards are taken round to every house in
the neighbourhood by a man specially hired for the purpose. This man,
called an 'Aanspreker,' carries a list of the names and addresses of the
people on whom he has to leave the cards; if the people sending out the
cards have friends in any other street of the town, a card is left at
every house in that street.
[Illustration: Zeeland Children in State.]
If the deceased was an officer, the cards, beside being sent round in
the neighbourhood, are left at every officer's house throughout the
town. To whichever profession the deceased belonged, to the people of
that profession the cards are sent. A Minister of State or any other
person occupying a very high position sends cards to every house in the
town and suburbs.
In a village or country place a funeral is rather a popular event, and
the preparations for it somewhat resemble the preparations for a feast.
This, for instance, is the case in Overyssel. When one of a family dies,
the nearest relatives immediately call in the neighbouring women, and
these take upon themselves all the necessary arrangements. They send
round messages announcing the death and day of interment; they buy
coffee, sugar-candy, and a bottle of gin, wherewith to refresh themselves
while making the shroud and dressing the dead body; and the next morning
they take care that the church bells are duly rung, and, in the
afternoon, when the relations and friends come to offer their
condolences, they serve them, as they sit round the bier, with black
bread and coffee. When the plates and cups are empty the visitors leave
again without having spoken a word.
On the day of the funeral, the guests assemble at two o'clock in the
afternoon. They first sit round the tables and eat and drink in silence,
and when the first batch have satisfied their appetites they move away and
make room for others. After this meal all walk round the coffin, and
repeat, one after another, 'Twas een goed mensch,' ('He or she was a good
man or woman,' as the case may be). Then the lid of the coffin is fastened
down with twelve wooden pegs, which the most honoured guest is allowed to
hammer in, and the coffin is forthwith placed on an ordinary farm-cart.
The nearest relations get in, too, and sit on the coffin, and the other
women on the cart facing the coffin. This custom is adhered to,
notwithstanding the prohibition by law to sit on any conveyance carrying a
coffin. The women are in mourning from tip to toe, and closely enveloped
in black merino shawls, which they wear over their heads. The men follow
on foot, and it is a picturesque though melancholy sight to watch these
funeral processions, always at close of day, solemnly wending their way
along the road, the dark figures of the women silhouetted against a sky
all aglow with those glorious sunsets for which Overyssel is famous.