Katten Stoet 06 Ieper, Belguim

Cieper, the mascot


Funny homemade float

The "witches pot"


When the cat is away...the mice take over





A real devil kitty


The town jester, note the official "cat on a stick."


Cat tossing


Balloon release


Witch burning


Belgian kitty

(written in June)
Once every three years the city of Ieper (Ypres), Belgium celebrates the “Kattenstoet” or in English, the “Cat Parade.” The idea behind the festival is to celebrate the history of the cat and the love hate relationship that many medieval villages had with said animal. Cats were once feared as bringers of evil and minions of Satan himself. I even read in a book that it was believed that cats were actually placed among humans to keep an eye on things while Lucifer was Hell. That same author then mused that cats were sent Earthbound because they were trying to take over Hell. Anyone who has ever owned a cat can probably see how those sentiments could have come about.

During the middle ages the village of Ieper was a major storage point and commerce area for wool, which of course attracted rats. The simple solution to the rat issue was to bring in cats to keep the rodent population down. Unfortunately, once the wool was sold and transported away the town was left with an over population of cats which were often feared as bringers of doom, evil, destruction, yada yada yada. The solution was to round the cats up and have the town jester toss the live cats from the church belfry. This “tradition” continued until 1817. In 1938 the “tradition” was revived but they used velvet cats instead. WWII put a dent in the festivities, but in 1947 the festival began again, this time with a small parade that honored the cat. The yearly festival continued, growing larger and larger until 1991 (with once exception for the Pope’s visit in 1985) when it was decided that the larger parade and other celebrations (such as the witch burning…more later) would only take place every three years. The cat tossing, sans parade, still takes place yearly on the second Sunday in May.

This May (14 May 06) we attended the 41st Kattenstoet with our friends Pam & Doug Wiggins and Catherine & Al Pongratz. We left early in order to get to the town and find a good place along the parade route. The trip was just under 3 hours from our house and we were able to find a parking spot just a few blocks from the city center. The main village of Ieper contains mostly medieval architecture and is surrounded by an outer wall. The church, where the cat tossing is done, is located right off of the main square which also serves as a market area where a weekly market still takes place on Saturdays. The square is bordered by cafes, touristy shops, full restaurants, bakeries and such. Pretty much the layout of you typical old European town. On our walk in I noticed that almost all of the shops had some sort of cat decoration on their doors and in their window displays. Once we reached the town center it was easy to see that they meant business. I was expecting a grandstand of a few wooden benches and a small VIP seating area of a few dozen chairs. Instead the entire market square was cordoned off with barriers, the church tower was decorated with huge cats, the vendors all had outside stands, and the grandstand was a large affair containing 3 sections totaling around 1000 seats.

After a nice lunch and a few Belgium beers the guys went off to check out the WWI museum while the 3 women went to stake out our space on the parade route. It was about 2 hours before the parade started but most of the front row along the barriers was already claimed by smart people who brought their own chairs. We selected a space behind an older couple and their grandchildren, right beside a small stage set up for an official parade photographer and across from the grandstands. Directly behind us was a small barrier for the stage so we would really have our own little area…or so we thought. After the first 30 minutes more people started showing up so I placed my sweatshirt on the ground to “hold” the space that we needed for 3 more people. A gentleman from England sat his stool next to my shirt so I figured that we wouldn’t have any issues holding that spot, boy was I ever wrong. A short while later some lady, and I use that term very loosely, showed up and glared at the sweatshirt on the ground. Pam informed her that the place was saved and the lady glared again. She then pushed her unsmiling husband and kid to the other side of the sitting Englishman and then tried to push her daughter in front of the family that we were standing behind. When that didn’t work out to her satisfaction she tried to get the Englishman to scoot over. When that didn’t happen she spent the next few hours glaring at us. I am not exaggerating here. The parade was in front of her, but when I would look to my right she was just pouting and glaring back at out group…scary. During the same time more people were also trying to push their way in. Another couple coveted the “saved” spot and I, a little stressed at this time, informed them “nein, meine Mann ist hier” (no, my husband is here) then I pointed to the sweatshirt. Pam and Catherine added in that their husbands were also going to be there. The man laughed and asked how big our husbands were. I responded “ein grosse Mann.” (a big man) while gesturing the body width of a VERY large man. Laughter followed and his more positive response made us relax a bit, but the space crunch was going on everywhere and these people simply had no respect for personal space. Another older couple squeezed in behind us with their folding stools and got so close to me that I swear if I had broke wind I would have knocked them down.

On the photographers platform many kids and some adults were gathering, even though it was clearly marked. One crazy Belgian lady kept trying to slip off the stand in front of Catherin and Pam. They stood their ground; Catherine even leaned against the woman cutting off the open space as she tried to coyly cut in. Then the woman tried to “explain” what she wanted in French in hopes that the girls would give in. Catherine, who speaks French then told her what was what. A few minutes later, when the photographer arrived, that same lady argued with him because she wanted to stay on the platform. She even got back on it after being kicked off twice. A policeman finally had to come around and then she stayed off the platform and behind us. The 3 of us were fed up and tired of the mean lady’s glare so Pam called her husband on a cell phone and told them to make tracks over to our spot. While we hated to cut their museum visit a bit short, we needed reinforcements. The guys showed up, took their positions, and everyone seemed to settle in a bit…well except for the glaring lady. I swear neither she nor her husband smiled once or even seemed to have any fun. Pam did say that she saw their daughter, who was about 10, crack at least one smile.

Speaking of smiles, Pam did manage to entertain the two young Belgian guys to the left of us on the other side of the photographer platform. During the breaks of crowd onslaught we were able to enjoy the pre-parade festivities which included marching bands and cars that were driving the parade route playing music and handing out flyers. At one point the song was “My Humps,” by the Black Eyed Peas. The words go “My humps, my humps, my lovely lady bumps.” As you can imagine the tune is pretty infectious and Pam was dancing along right as the two guys looked over, made eye contact with her, and then promptly cracked up. They were also experiencing crowd “issues” and the two groups bonded a bit at that moment. As the parade started I let the elderly couple sitting behind us move in front as they were sitting and they fit right into the spot behind the first row of children in front. Good karma, right?

The parade was simply the best parade that I had ever seen outside of the Walt Disney Empire. It was so large and long and it’s very hard to describe all of the different floats that were on display. All of the floats were hand made and they were really creative and very entertaining. Each float or walking group stopped to perform in front of each grandstand section. Some of the action included the throwing of a witch into a pot of boiling water. The “witch” was someone pulled from the audience who, after being pushed into the pot, emerged from the rear of the float and was returned to their seat. There were giant cat floats, people dressed up at cats throughout history from an Egyptian Pharaoh’s boat complete with a full slave army to a very demure Japanese “geisha-esqu” cat. Of course there was a Garfield float, but my favorite was the devil float. It had flaming eyes on all sides and kids were sitting in slings off of the side beating on the eyes which doubled as drums. It was very tribal and dark sounding. You could feel the evil of the cat being portrayed in this float. Many floats were built around tractors, but some were pushed and pulled by people or even draught horse. One guy misjudged the last turn before the stands and ended up hitting the stands with the main body of the float. I’ll just bet that those horses were pissed! It took a little pushing and pulling, but a small group of people manage to realign everything and then the horses were hooked back up and continued on with the parade.

After the parade, which was over 2 1/2 hours long, we needed refreshment. Of course everything on the market square was full as thousands of people were also seeking the same thing. We walked a few blocks down and eyed an off the beaten path kinda place. In fact we weren’t even sure if it was open as the lace curtains blocked the view of anyone inside. Pam walked up the steps and was trying to peer in under the lace as she leaned against the door, which of course opened so she stumbled inside. It was a very “local” place, but we were treated well. After that beer it was time to return to the church tower for the cat tossing. While we grouped around the tower Pam was wondering where the witch burning would be taking place. She asked a policeman if he spoke English and he replied “a little.” She then asked him where was the witch burning going to take place. He responded, “Why, have you been invited to burn?”

Finally the cat tossing began. The jester, dressed in a jaunty red and white outfit danced on the tower balcony to work the crowd up into a frenzy then he began to toss the stuffed cats. My guess is that 41 cats were tossed simply because it was the 41st parade, but I didn’t count. Rather than fight for a kitty I purchased an official one (the same as the jester has on his “stick” in the photo) later at the museum and had Pam toss it to me while I stood in the square. That way I can honesty say that I caught a cat at “Kat Fest 06” woooo hoooo….say it out loud…”Kat Fest 06” Just rings in your ears huh?

Meanwhile, back in front of the grandstand the official witch burning pile of wood was being prepared. Bundles of sticks were stacked up and the men in their “traditional” Ieper Fire Department uniform prepared the wood with the “traditional” accelerant gasoline. (can you read the sarcasm here?) Still, it was cool..well, uh “hot” after the fire started. They held a mock trial with the townsfolk, royalty, and church officials. Once the witch was convicted (yeah, like we didn’t see that one coming…) there was a balloon release of hundreds of red and white balloons symbolizing the burning of the witch and the release of her soul. Then an effigy of the witch was placed on top of the wood which went up pretty quickly. To be honest, the trial and burning was a bit of a disappointment. The trial took too long and was not in English, but hey, it’s their country right? I would definitely go back to see another parade and might even attend another cat tossing for fun…but I’d skip the witch burning as I can set Pam on fire at anytime…ha ha

On our way back to the car Mike and I tried to get a Bratwurst for the road but the stand was sold out. I think Doug may have bought the last one (not really, but it’s nice to have someone to blame.) We stopped at a tavern and planned on eating at their outside tables, but it didn’t look like they were serving there. So we went inside and what a treat! The tavern was located in the basement of the building and the walls were filled with all kinds or WWI memorabilia. The atmosphere was very homey and we found out that the Mom cooked, the Dad tended bar, and their son was our waiter. Poor Pam couldn’t get any of her first few ice cream flavor choices as the place was simply sold out. I tried another great beer “Babar” yep, like the elephant and had a wonderful Bratwurst with cheese baked on top. As we ate, the owner’s cat wandered from table to table saying “hello” and getting scritched...yes, “scritched” not “scratched.” Pet owners know the difference. It was pretty obvious that the cat knew that today was “her” day. The drive home was a little rough as we had stood for the most of the day and all I wanted to do was stretch out and sleep. Mike’s only regret was that we hadn’t brought Spud along so he could have been thrown from the tower.