With Spring now hopefully well on the way we looked today at a couple of on-going customs to celebrate the changing seasons – one in Belgium, currently in the midst of a bit of controversy – whilst the other is much more home grown, and not embroiled in any controversial issues, as far as I know.

So first off we looked at the event in Belgium.

For over 600 years the town of Krakelingen has celebrated the arrival of spring by hosting, an annual celebration involving costumed parades, ancient rituals and a series of bizarre local traditions, one of which was banned last summer.

A kind of European answer to GROUNDHOG DAY in the USA, but the centrepiece of this 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.

But what has caused a storm of protest is that before the crackers are hurled around, the druids routinely drink wine from a goblet containing live fish swimming around, and it is this aspect which  has been banned by the government following protests by Gaia, Belgium’s largest animal rights organisation.

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 and as spring begins.

Over time the gudgeon have been replaced by much smaller fish typically used as aquarium feed, and the wriggling drink has been restricted to the town worthies, led by the mayor.

The mayor and local aldermen, appropriately dressed in ceremonial attire accuse authorities of destroying a centuries-old cultural tradition without consultation and are vowing to have the ban lifted. Traditionalists took to the streets last weekend, waving placards reading, “I want fish”.

‘Traditions are no excuse for animal suffering,’ said Gaia chairman Michel Vandenbosch.

‘The 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.’

So leaving the Belgians to fight that one out, we returned to the UK and specifically to Ashbourne in Derbyshire, the site of The Royal Shrovetide Football Match.

That in itself is a bit of a misnomer as it isn’t quite what one expect might expect of a “football match”, but more of a ball game with few rules.

Now we all know about pancake day, which was of course last week, but what you probably don’t know is that on that day, and indeed on Ash Wednesday, a very special match is played annually in the town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

Yes so called “Shrovetide” ball games have been a feature in England since the time Henry II was on the throne between 1154 and 1189.

The Royal Shrovetide Football Match, is played every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in Ashbourne, Derbyshire – and has been since at least the 1660s.

Unfortunately it’s not known just when the Ashbourne match started as all the records were destroyed in a fire in the committee office in the 1890’s, but what is known is that it has been a feature every year since at least the 1660’s, although it had to be cancelled in 1968 and 2001 due to outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, and in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The game in Ashbourne is known as “hugball” and each game last 16 hours between 2 and 10pm involving thousands of players divided into two teams, the  Up’ards and the Down’ards, with the Up’ards born north of Henmore Brook which runs through Ashbourne, and the Down’ards south of the river.

Up’ards try to score goals at the posts near Sturston Mill, while the Down’ards try to score at Clifton Mill. The mills themselves are long gone, but part of their millstones still stand on the riverbank and have been used as scoring posts themselves.

Rules are few and far between, with ‘nearly anything’ allowed within the melee of players colloquially known as the ‘hug’.

However one official rule does declare that ‘unnecessary violence’ is ‘frowned upon’.

The ball can travel anywhere in the town except for cemeteries, churchyards and private gardens as long as no motorised vehicles are used to carry it.

Measuring in at 27 inches in diameter, the ball is filled with water to give it weight – sitting at around 4lbs on the scales when full.

One of the most popular origin theories suggests the macabre notion that the ‘ball’ was originally a severed head tossed into the waiting crowd following an execution!

The ball is goaled when a player hits it against the millstone three times in a row – but since 1996 players have had to be in the river in order for the goal to count.

Often the scorer is decided en route to the goal, and the honour usually goes to a local, but tourists and visitors are welcome to join the game.

The game starts when the ball is ‘turned up’ from a special plinth in the town centre – and it became known as ‘Royal’ after two kings kicked off the games while they were still Princes of Wales.

Should either team manage to secure safe passage for the ball to the opposite end of the town before 6pm, a new ball will be released and the game will continue.

King Edward VIII turned up the ball in 1928 and suffered a bloody nose in the fracas, and in 2003 King Charles III threw the ball into play.

Whoever scores the goal receives the ball to keep, painted by local craftspeople with their name and design.

Anyway I very much hope to have the pleasure of your company once again tomorrow,
Scott