Meeoooow Kattensoet

  

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Heather and Shane came over from London for the triannual Kattenstoet (Cat Parade) in Ypres - a bit like the City of Perth Christmas Pagaent with whiskers. There was some cool stuff, but also some of the more traditional telethon-dancing manouvres by people dressed in silly cat outfits with orange make-up because someone didn't twig that their makeup did NOT need to compensate for stage lights. A poor little poppet near us was in hysterics, and will probably have nightmares for life, after a nasty catman came over and hissed at her.

The 'highlight' of the day (which we couldn't bring ourselves to stay for more than 5 minutes of...gotta miss the traffic) was the throwing of the toycats from the bellfry. This ritual goes back to days of yore, when real cats were thrown, either because the rat season was over and they were no longer needed and/or because of their witchy associations. It was all a bit silly really, but one to add to our Belgian cultural experiences.