"Schuttersfeest" Top 5 Page for this destination Valkenburg Travelogue by tompt

An old custom in Limburg is the Schutterij. Many people are members of the local association.
They are excisting for hundreds of years. Once they were there to defend people and goods, but nowadays we have police and an army for that. And the schutterij is just the fun of it.
Not only fun because every schutter thinks it is very serious business.
Church played a central role and they choose patronsaints. Many of the schutterijen are called: St.-Sebastianus or St.-Joris .

The teams assemble on a field near the organizing city. In this case Valkenburgs´ Jonge en Oude Nobele Schutterij was the organiser.
While other teams are parading in front of the judges some let their wapens rest.

First the teams parade in front of the judges. They are judged on appearance and organisation.
The bielemannen are in front, followed by the drumband, the flag and the king and queen. The officiers and the marksmen make the parade complete.

The King:
Once a year there is a contest called kingbirdshooting. The winner of this contest can call himself king for a year.
The silver plates on his chest are engraved with names of former kings. If someone wins three yaers in a row he can call himself emperor.

The queen is choosen by the king. She can choose her own dress as long as it is looking good with the uniforms of the team.

And then all the teams parade through town.

A marketentster brings food for the soldiers. In the Netherlands they had to be married to a soldier. That way she could be close to her man. She also sold drinks and food to other soldiers.
Since about 1973 they are seen at Schuttersfeesten.
Their place is before the flag.

The Bielemannen are at the fronmt of the parade. Traditionally they were clearing bloccades by the reformed. They were disguised with a false beard to protect them from revenge

At the end of the parade the contests of shooting begin. Little wooden sticks are to be shot from high pooles.

If you can read dutch and want to know more about this:
http://home.wxs.nl/~hr18753/index.htm