Crazy Holiday: Sunneklaas

Ameland, a small island off the Netherlands has a crazy holiday--Sunneklaas. Masked men go out on the streets, blow horns, smash the ground with sticks, and do other stuff people rarely ever do. Women and minors can’t go out because they will be chased back home or get their asses beaten with sticks. Do they actually stay inside? What do you think? Journalists who tried to capture this ritual were brutally banished. Most of them are relieved of all of their recording material when they left the island. This is why there are hardly any moving images of Sunneklaas. Even on YouTube there are just a handful of videos, but you still wouldn’t know what the hell these people are doing. It stems from a centuries-old pagan tradition where people tried to chase devils from their village. That’s why they sweep the streets and blow their horns.

Comments

  1. that is really kind of creepy cool... i might be willing to participate in the oddity.. i want to say i saw this in a film recently and it was one of the subspecies films... i will have to confirm it.

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  2. It almost reminds me of Oktoberfest.

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  3. Cant say I'm not jealous of their hats... lol.

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  4. lol where can I get one of these hats

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  5. Sharon, the hyper link above in your article is broken & goes to an Error 404 Not Found page. I think you meant this one instead. Drinking Games Friday a day early? As the author of that piece intones, it does outwardly appear to be an anti-child & a misogynistic practice. I wonder why the Frisian province of Ameland would need to have a special holiday to exercise that when the rest of the so-called civilised world is just that, 24/7 …

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  6. You're most welcome, starry sister … *big hug* …

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  7. I'm from this particular island. It's an awesome event. Men make their own costums and they are very very creative. But outsiders are recognized immediately, so I would not take the chance of visiting:D

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  8. Hey I´m comming from the Iland and it is a verry old tradition sins 1700.
    Its a traditions only for the people from and for Ameland.
    After 17.00H at 4 Dec are special ruls and you have to folow the ruls wehn not you nare in big trouble.
    Also stay away from Ameland in the time from 01.12 - 07.12 it better I come from there.

    Regards mark

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