Hasselt turns religious festival into massive block party
Organisers of citywide religious festival in Hasselt are betting they have enough on offer to keep a diverse, young crowd coming – from larger-than-life puppets to pea soup
Mary, and more
That’s the challenge facing the organisers of the Virga Jessefeesten in Hasselt. Every seven years, the city holds not just one but four processions honouring the Virgin Mary over the course of two weeks. During this period, there are dozens of other related events happening all over the city centre.
“This festival started centuries ago,” says Karolien Mondelaers, city councillor for tourism and culture. “It’s nice to see that such an ancient tradition still can interest so many people, whether they're religious or not.”
Virga Jessefeesten is a massive undertaking that involves thousands of volunteers who help with the organisation and planning in the years leading up to the festival, and who take part in the processions. And every public institution in the city seems to have some part to play, from the provincial library and city museum to countless music and theatre groups.
Like Ommegang in Brussels, the procession started as a civic expression of devotion around a miraculous statue of the Virgin and Child. Unlike the Ommegang, which has now lost much of its original religious meaning, the Virga Jesse Festival retains its focus on the figure of the Virgin and the larger Christian story.
Jesse and the branch
The name of Hasselt’s statue, Virga Jesse, refers to a prophecy from the Old Testament that was interpreted in the middle ages as referring to the genealogy of Christ. Jesse was the father of King David, and Jesus was thought to be his descendant.
In Latin, the text from the Book of Isaiah reads “et egredietur virga de radice Jesse et flos de radice eius ascendet.” In the King James Bible, this is translated as: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch will grow out of his roots.”
Mary was thought to be the branch and Jesus the flower that she bore. Virga, the Latin word for stem or branch, is similar to Virgo, or virgin.
We think it’s important to give a sign of hope even in these modern times
The Virga Jesse statue is still housed in the Virga Jesse Basilica in Hasselt, which recently underwent a 15-month renovation. There is a new devotional chapel dedicated to the Virgin; its completion was scheduled to coincide with the 2017 Virga Jesse festivities.
For volunteer Luc Smeets, devotion to the Virgin isn’t just a quaint relic of bygone times, but an important facet of everyday life. “Sometimes,” he says, “religious faith is far too difficult for me, and at those times, so-called folk beliefs – belief in a statue, for instance – are much easier to grasp.”
At the same time, he and the other organisers are conscious of the need to reach everyone in the community – not just Catholics – to keep the festival relevant.
Everyone's festival
“We didn’t use the image of the statue in our logo but a twig, along with a green dot symbolising hope,” says Smeets. “The reason is that we think it’s important to give a sign of hope even in these modern times, when things are sometimes very uncertain.”
In another sign of the times, the city’s historical museum, Het Stadsmus, is hosting an exhibition called Virga Yes Diverse. Representatives of other religious faiths – such as Protestantism, Baha’i, Hinduism and Islam – were interviewed about their experience of the festival. Visitors can see their testimonies in the exhibition.
One of the traditions surrounding the festival is rotten – the decoration of the city’s streets by various neighbourhood committees. Here too, newcomers to Hasselt and members of other faiths were enlisted, and their participation is chronicled in a photo exhibition, also at Het Stadsmus.
This spirit of inclusiveness extends to every part of the festival, say organisers. “We have invited people of other faiths to participate in the procession,” says Smeets. “You can’t expect that everyone will want to, but at least we’ve made the offer.”
Pea soup and knights
Although the religious processions remain the heart of the festival, there’s plenty on the programme that has nothing to do with church. One of the main highlights is the Langeman procession, which will be followed by the distribution of pea soup. The Langeman (which means “tall man”) is one of Hasselt’s giants, or folkloric larger-than-life puppets.
This armour-clad knight is one of Flanders' largest giants, and he appears only rarely. According to legend, the tradition of serving pea soup during the Virga Jessefeesten dates to the 16th century, when a Spanish nobleman saved the city from famine with pea soup.
They say you only become a real Hasselaar if you participate in the Virga Jessefeesten at least once
For those more interested in modern art than in folk traditions, there’s an exhibition at the former refuge house of the Abbey of Herkenrode. The title, Celibate Divas, refers to the role the mighty abbesses of Herkenrode played as the patrons of art and cultural movers and shakers in Hasselt for centuries. Works by Belgian and international artists, including Jan Fabre and American video artist Bill Viola, address the themes of passion, spirituality and power.
This year also marks the 150th anniversary of the crowning of the Virga Jesse statue. In 1867, the jenever distillers of Hasselt donated golden crowns to place of the heads of both the Virgin and Child in gratitude for the eradication of a disease that had threatened to wipe out their herds of cattle.
It was a doctor from Hasselt, Louis Willems, who developed a vaccine and helped lay the groundwork for modern immunology. An exhibition next door to the Jenever Museum in Witte Nonnenstraat tells the story of this important chapter in medical history from Hasselt’s past, while a play performed in the museum’s courtyard tries to get to the bottom of the mystery: Who saved Hasselt’s cattle? Doctor Willems or the Virga Jesse?
Basilica ice cream
Music plays an important role in the festivities, too, with a day of religious music scheduled for 12 August. Highlights include a performance of English composer John Rutter’s The Gift of Life: Six Canticles of Creation by the local Mantelius Ensemble mixed choir, and an encore presentation of “City of Peace,” an oratorio composed by Hasselt’s own Paul Steegmans for the 2003 Virga Jessefeesten. The day ends with a concert of Gregorian chant from a 13th-century manuscript that originally came from nearby Tongeren.
City councillor Mondelaers is convinced that the festival has something for everyone. “We expect over 100,000 visitors to visit the city during the festival,” she says. “You can see Hasselt at its most beautiful: The whole city will be decorated with flags, flowers and special lighting. Besides an extensive cultural programme, there are tourist-oriented activities like guided walks and bicycle routes.”
She notes that the Virga Jesse theme will even be reflected in the food and drink, with a new Goldwater liqueur, Basilica ice cream and a Virga Jesse-menu in several restaurants.
For many people, there’s a sense that the Virga Jesse Festival is much more than an event. It’s a rite of passage and a great undertaking that binds the community together.
Family affair
Mondelaers remembers her first feesten well. “In 1989, when I was 13 years old, my parents decided to move to Hasselt,” she says. “Even before we actually moved, I was already enrolled as a participant in the procession. They say you only become a real Hasselaar if you participate in the Virga Jessefeesten at least once.”
Whole families often walk together in the procession, sometimes with several generations – from grandparents and great-grandparents, to the smallest babies. This year, Mondelaers will walk with her husband, her mother, her father-in-law and her daughter, who turns 10 on the day of the first procession.
We must cherish this festival and very carefully pass it on to the next generations
She adds with a laugh: “My teenage boys will hopefully do some volunteering as well, although I still have some persuading to do.”
The challenge for the current organisers is to engage and inspire the next generation, on whose shoulders it will fall to keep the Virga Jessefeesten going in the decades ahead. With this year’s savvy festival programming, outreach efforts to different groups and modern marketing campaign, success seems all but certain.
“I think that if we have this sort of festival, which has real roots in the city, we must cherish it and very carefully pass it on to the next generations,” says Smeets. “It’s very important to keep it in the city, but also to modernise it and let it evolve with the times.”
5-20 August, across Hasselt, with processions on 6, 13, 15 and 20 August
