{"id":767,"date":"2025-02-25T15:46:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T16:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=767"},"modified":"2025-03-11T23:10:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T23:10:38","slug":"belgians-furious-after-centuries-old-custom-of-drinking-live-fish-is-banned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/25\/belgians-furious-after-centuries-old-custom-of-drinking-live-fish-is-banned\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgians furious after centuries old custom of drinking live fish is banned"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Furious Belgians have protested the banning of an ancient fish-drinking festival tradition (Picture: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Belgian festival-goers are furious after the government<\/a> banned an ancient tradition which involves drinking from a goblet of wine containing live fish.<\/p>\n

For over 600 years the town of Geraardsbergen has celebrated the arrival of spring by hosting the Krakelingen festival, an annual celebration involving costumed parades, ancient rituals and a series of bizarre local traditions.<\/p>\n

The centrepiece of the festival, which began in 1413, involves local druids throwing ring-shaped bread crackers off the top of the historic Oudenberg Hill following a colourful parade.<\/p>\n

But just before they commence with the tossing, the druids drink wine from a goblet containing live fish swimming around, which has now been banned by the government under a new animal welfare law.<\/p>\n

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The Krakelingen festival sees local druids drink from a goblet containing live fish (Picture: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Locals have protested the ban (Picture: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ban, which came into effect last summer, has sparked fury among traditionalists, who took to the streets this weekend waving placards reading \u2018I want fish\u2019 and accusing the authorities of destroying a centuries-old cultural tradition without consultation.<\/p>\n

\u2018The regulation was approved without us ever being heard,\u2019 local alderman Ann Panis told the Sunday Times while dressed in traditional garb.<\/p>\n

Geraardsbergen\u2019s mayor Fernand Van Trimpont also joined the protest in his ceremonial attire, vowing to fight to reinstate the practice.<\/p>\n

\u2018Flanders must take into account cultural-historical arguments. We therefore hope that our protest will be picked up so that the regulation can be changed,\u2019 he told the outlet.<\/p>\n

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The festival has taken place every year since 1413 (Picture: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Animal rights groups have threatened to report anyone caught drinking fish at the festival (Picture: Alamy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The tradition has long faced opposition from Gaia, Belgium\u2019s largest animal rights organisation, who claim the practice is cruel and have promised to take legal action against anyone caught drinking the fish.<\/p>\n

\u2018Traditions are no excuse for animal suffering,\u2019 said Gaia chairman Michel Vandenbosch. \u2018The ban on drinking fish must be observed everywhere in Geraardsbergen. We will file a complaint with the judicial authorities and the Flemish animal welfare inspection service against violations.\u2019<\/p>\n

The fish-swilling tradition is intended to symbolise the transition from winter to spring as gudgeon, small freshwater fish, rise to the surface of ponds after winter as spring begins.<\/p>\n

Over time the gudgeon have been replaced by much smaller fish typically used as aquarium feed, and the wriggling drink has been restricted to the town worthies, led by the mayor.<\/p>\n

In 1608, Flemish Renaissance poet Josse Schollaert described the ritual as: \u2018The lonely gudgeon playfully seeks a way and hides in the stomach of prominent people.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Furious Belgians have protested the banning of an ancient fish-drinking festival tradition (Picture: Shutterstock) Belgian festival-goers are furious after the government banned an ancient tradition which involves drinking from a goblet of wine containing live fish. For over 600 years the town of Geraardsbergen has celebrated the arrival of spring by hosting the Krakelingen festival, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weird"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":774,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions\/774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}