Abraham celebration for the men of '68

The beginning of September is full of traditions.  Obviously it is the start of school (and all social activities and hobbies etc), but it's also the return of the fair in Leuven and a week full of festivities for the UNESCO heritage of the "Men of the Year" (Verbond der Jaartallen). 

On Saturday, the Men of the Year '68 celebrated Abraham because they turned 50 this year. At the same time the Men of the year '78 became an active year in the organisation of all men of the year by celebrating their 40th birthday and the start of 10 years of activities towards their 50th birthday.

That's always linked by a big gathering of all the members of the Men of the Year in Leuven, politicians (more this year than usual because of the upcoming elections) , music bands, etc... I was a bit late to hear all the speeches for the men of 68...(I don't regret that) but joined the celebrations when the Men of '78 could dress up the little "Kamerood Sesteg" statue with their uniform.   It's always a bit confronting to see that men younger than me are already active in the Men of the Year. Yikes, that states a lot about my age. This year there's for the first time also a Women's club for '78 but they weren't at the celebrations. I guess they are not yet showing up in the very traditional "heritage" activities, where the launch of a similar women's friends club wasn't welcomed by all men.  Woohoo, don't touch our traditions :p. Good for those women though! One year too late, I guess.

At the city park's gazebo, there were more speeches and the traditional flag of the organisation got transferred to the start-up year of '79. We enjoyed the free reception but wasp spoiled the party a bit.  The children had a little lemonade that got attacked by some wasps. When I tried to get their drink away from them, I squatted and apparently squeezed a wasp.  AUCH, such a sting hurts! Damn.  

The year of '66 showing off

After the reception it was time to continue the little parade through the city where the celebrations end by Fonske's fountain. Fonske, the statue of wisdom at the center of Leuven gets dressed up in the uniform of the Men of '68 .
Much to Beertjes surprise we ran into the daycare teacher that we had just said goodbye too the day before.