The devil hound of the Zwin

It was in the 12th century. The lands north-west of Bruges were inhospitable and the few farmers and fishermen who lived there saw their houses flooded regularly by the wild sea. The count of Flanders, Philip I, decided to do something about it. He let count Floris III (count of Holland, which he captured a couple of years before) go in exchange for the Dutch expertise in dike-building.
A couple of thousands of Dutch dike builders came to Flanders to try to tame the sea, however this appeared to be easier said than done. They discovered a huge spring on the place where they wanted to build the dike and everything they built during a day was flooded the next. The moral was very low and disaster tourists from the surrounding towns of Hoeke, Sluis and Blankenberge came mocking with the poor workers.

Canal between Damme and Bruges

Whatever they tried, nothing seemed to help. Each morning, their work of the day before was swallowed by the water and a loudly barking dog hung around the place, seemingly laughing in their face. One day a foreman managed to catch the dog and buried the animal in a deep hole and from that moment on, the water stopped flowing. After a couple of months the dike was finished and the city of Damme was founded behind that dike. To remember these events, the city of Damme has a dog in its coat of arms.

Damme

Damme is a medieval town with a picturesque market square that attracts tourists on a side trip from Bruges (only 7 km away). A car-free track offers an excellent opportunity for biking along the scenic canal Bruges-Damme.

Damme presents itself as a 'book village' and indeed with 8 book stores for a population of 11 000 and a monthly book market (every second Sunday of the month, from 9am to 6pm) it can rightfully claim that title.

Mononk Simpélourd

Today's story takes us to the "beyond" part of this blog. We leave Flanders and head for the city of Soignies, about 45km south-east of Brussels.

It's in this city that the story of Mononk Simpélourd originates. Mononk was a cobbler in the 18th century. He was married to a woman who didn't think faithfulness was the most important virtue in a marriage. One day, the deceived husband dared to raise his voice after which his wife immediately took her belongings and left the poor fellow to the mockery of the whole city, who called him "simple" and "lourd" (heavy, clumsy,...).

The cobbler refused to wallow in self pity and he decided to take revenge on his friends. He invited them for a dinner of smoked ham, but when they tried to cut the ham, it appeared to be made of wood. He laughed and asked them: "Who's the simple mind now?", while he prepared them a real meal.

 The fooled friends decided not to leave it like this. They made a doll out of straw, resembling the shoemaker, and carried it through the streets of the city, while shouting and laughing out loudly. Lots of people joined and a real procession was formed. A couple of days later they hooked the dummy to a window and burned it.

Statue of Simpélourd

Festival of Mononk Simpélourd

Nowadays Soignies still remembers this event on the Saturday preceeding the 3rd Sunday of October with the festival of Mononk (my uncle) Simpélourd. Mononk arrives at the train station at 6 pm and a whole bunch of fanfares, giants, folklore groups and children with lanterns follow him through the streets of Soignies. In the parade Mononk throws "carabibis" (a kind of sweet caramel especially made for the occasion) to the crowd. On Tuesday the dummy is burned.

Soignies

Soignies is a nice little city, founded in the 7th century. It has one of the few Romanesque churches in Belgium, adjacent to a cloth hall. Soignies is famous for its glass and for its blue granite.

Saint-Vincent's church of Soignies

About Olen and the mug with the 3 handles

A lot of stories have been told and written down about the emperor Charles the Fifth. In Flemish folk tales, this leader of an empire where the sun never went down, is depicted as a brave man with a good sense of humour. Today I will tell you one of the most famous tales about this noble man: the tale of the mug with the 3 handles.

3-handle mug on a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

It was late in the hunting season when emperor Charles finally found the time for his annual tradition: go hunting on the hunting grounds around Turnhout, owned by his sister Mary of Hungary. On this yearly trip, he always halted at a certain inn in Olen, of which he knew it had some more than decent beer. The innkeeper's wife brought him this treat in a one-handle mug. She held the handle and the emperor had difficulties to accept the mug. So he told her she should buy a mug with two handles.
The next year our emperor returned. The lady came out with a fresh pint of deliciousness. She had followed the emperor's advice and now brought him a mug with 2 handles. She held both handles however, giving the emperor an even harder time to take hold of the mug. Again he gave her the advice to buy a mug with an additional handle.
One year later the emperor came back. He ordered the usual and the landlady returned with the 3-handle mug. The emperor couldn't help smiling when he saw her holding the mug with both hands, with the third handle aimed towards her. "It's just a matter of knowing", he said when he took the third handle, reaching underneath the mug...

Fountain on the market square of Olen

Olen

Olen is a quiet little town in the province of Antwerp. Its 2 nature reserves near the 'Kleine Nete' river makes it ideal for both walking and cycling. It's no wonder that it was granted the title of "Walking commune of 2005" by the tourism board of Antwerp for its 15 walking trails. For the culture seekers, it hosts a beer museum, a radio museum and a poaching museum. 3 inns claim to have the original 3-handle mug in their possession: "De zwarte stier" (the black bull), "In de oude pot van Keizer Karel" (in the old mug of emperor Charles) and "Sint-Sebastiaan". For young adventurers theme park Bobbejaanland is just a stone's throw away.

Buulmolen - Olen