Whatsit Wednesday: Carnaval

Yes, I know. It is Valentine’s Day. But to be honest, Valentine’s Day is an import in Europe. It is a much more recent thing that only entered the culture because of the commercial possibilities of selling all sorts of things to people. In our section of Europe there is a much more important and embedded holiday at this time of year: Carnaval. 

Mind you, not everywhere celebrates Carnaval. In the Netherlands it is only the provinces of Brabant and Limburg (“below the river” is what they say) where the general population is culturally and historically Catholic. In Belgium, which is almost completely culturally and historically Catholic, Carnaval is also not celebrated everywhere. It is certainly celebrated in Belgian Limburg where we live. 

Carnaval actually begins in November. On the 11th day of the 11th month, things kick off. The “11” is considered the crazy number or hour - since it is not 12. There is a good sermon in there somewhere about why 12 is considered perfect, but that is for another time. In November all of the Carnaval organizations make their plans and start things off. And there are lots of organizations: schools, the scouts, ladies groups, activities for seniors and more. Each neighborhood or village has their own Carnaval group. 

In the winter months leading up to February the time is filled with readying the float, making your costume, planning what you will do, visiting other groups, choosing a prince and saving some money for the big day. Everything really starts on the Friday before Ash Wednesday. Carnaval is tied to Easter. Ash Wednesday is 42 days before the Passion and Easter. For several days, there are parades, festivals, loud music, dancing and lots of drinking. Everyone can do all sorts of crazy (and unholy) things on these days before the days of fasting begin. 

You might be familiar with some of this if you ever watched the Disney version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. In the movie, Quasimodo is chosen as Prince Carnaval and they go to unmask him - but it is not a mask! This is a time to poke fun at the government or institutions. It was historically the one time of the year that criticism could be made of such institutions without fear of attack. 

Some people enjoy the music, the color and the frivolity. But I have been told that you have to be born into it. I was not. It clashes with principles in my life with God as King, my desire to serve Him in every aspect of my life. But it is a reality that one has to deal with in this area. The stores close down, the streets are blocked for the parade (and every village closes on a different day) and one can see people in various-colored costumes heading to a party somewhere. During the day it is often whole families. In the evening it is always young people and adults. 

Today, Wednesday, all of the frivolity ends and the time of fasting begins. Many will go to a Catholic Church to get their ash cross on their head. Some will truly consider fasting and thinking about other things in this time. It may last about as long as some of the New Year’s resolutions lasted. But Carnaval will be put away until it is awoken again on the 11th of the 11th this year. 

What do you believe? (2)

I wanted to respond to one of the questions on the last entry about the Catholic weekend.


It was really exciting to see these young people struggle with what they do believe. They expected, I think, that we (the adults) would simply tell them what they SHOULD believe. And as usual, when asked the first answers were typical answers (the ones they know you as adults want to hear).

But then they realized that the question was serious. If they could choose, which elements from the "articles of faith" would they keep, which would they throw away and what would they add to it? There was a time of discussion to talk about things that they believed. Some of these points included: "That man and animals will always live well together" or "That God will always help me to love animals." There was also mention of "eternal love", "friendship" and "forgiveness".

One of the most interesting points came after everyone had had a chance to say some of the things they believed. We then voted on what should stay or go. What with Idols and such, that is what these kids were used to (and to be honest - that is what a lot of adults would like to think they should be able to do with their "articles of faith"). But they only had three votes! They had two blue (a full "YES") and one red ("maybe?"). At the end, we had a board with the various points blue or red-dotted.


An intriguing point came from the article (mentioned by one of the participants): "That we should forgive because Jesus forgives." This point was one that had the most stickers, but they were mostly red. When discussed it was made clear that many thought this a VERY important point, but they also realized that it was very difficult to do.

Some other points concerned whether there really is life after death, whether God created the earth or what it means to be part of the church. The most exciting point of all of this to me was that these young people were seriously THINKING about all of this, instead of just learning something by rote or writing something down. They will struggle with these concepts, for a little while at least. And that is what we are supposed to do!

No - just because we decide that something shouldn't be on the list does not determine whether it is true or not. We don't get to vote on what is true. But we DO, we MUST decide what we really believe. Belief is not cerebral, it is entire - encompassing our thought AND our life-actions. That is something these young people were exposed to in this weekend and I hope in the coming months and years still.

What do you believe?

This past weekend I took part in a youth weekend for Catholic youth preparing for their confirmation. You might remember that Karla Verheijen was approached in her village by the committee which organizes the catechism for these young people. They knew Karla and Ruud were believers and that they know their Bible, so they asked if Karla wanted to help. Along the way Karla mentioned that I had experience with youth weekends and the committee asked my help with this weekend.

This was a unique opportunity – both Karla and I want people to consider what they believe and to look deeper at what they are taught. We also encourage all people to read the Bible. The other adults in this committee not only don’t know much about the Bible, they aren’t really sure if they believe in God. But they do believe that the church is important for these young people. So this weekend was organized to help prepare them for their confirmation – the time for Catholics when they accept the decision made for them when they were baptized as babies, and the moment when they receive the Holy Spirit, according to Catholic teaching.

At the weekend, one of the activities was to look at the creed that they were to know. Often this must simply be learned by rote and repeated at the ceremony. But the committee member who isn’t sure if he believes in God thought it better to have these young people look at what they really believe. In this way they will not be saying that they believe something that they don’t believe. So we had them list some things they believe in. Then they were allowed to vote for the points they considered most important. It was very interesting to see what came out of the voting.

What do you really believe? What are your articles of faith? Do you believe that God is creator of heaven and earth? That Jesus died and was raised on the third day? That we can live eternally? That the Holy Spirit lives in us and guides us and gives us strength to be different people? And what is the most important for you? And what does this mean for your daily life then?

And then the thought: does it really matter what we think? We can vote all we want – and we live in a world where the publics opinion is the most important (“Idols” with the tele-voting) – but that does not change what is. When we say: “I believe”, are we saying “I think this is true” or are we saying “I accept this truth”?

It was an exciting weekend. And these young people have been challenged in ways that others certainly will not have been. And that happened because a man is not sure what he believes and is willing to ask others to help. I am glad that we were able to participate and look forward to what will happen in the future.