St V festivities, 2004

Saint V is the commonly used name for a holiday for freethinking university students in Brussels, Belgium. It takes place annually on November 20 and commemorates the founding of the Free University of Brussels. The day's long form (French: Saint-Verhaegen, Dutch: Sint-Verhaegen) differs in the two official languages, but both are a reference to Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, the university's founder, who notably is not a saint and was never canonized; the name was chosen instead to mock the Saint-Nicolas festivities of the rival Catholic University.

The festivities started in 1888 as a protest against the then-academic authorities and has since grown into an annual parade that pays tribute to Verhaegen and the values of free inquiry. Nowadays, the event is organized by the Brussels Student Association and is celebrated by students of both the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), which officially separated in 1970.

Origins

Placing flowers on Verhaegen's tomb in Brussels Cemetery by university faculty is part of the formal aspect of the celebration.

The event dates back to November 24, 1888, when students of the university organized to protest a university reorganization that was perceived as undemocratic and against the principle of free inquiry (French: libre examen, Dutch: vrij onderzoek), on which the university was founded. That morning, 200 of the university's 1400 students, with many freemasons (as Verhaegen was also the founder of the Grand Orient of Belgium), assembled and left a wreath of oak leaves on Verhaegen's tomb.

In following years, the students, with much fanfare and waving the flags of their respective student organizations, would form a long procession to pay homage to Verhaegen at his tomb and a monument in his honour. These celebrations continue to this day, although the students are now generally more concerned with drinking in the streets, and the honouring of Verhaegen is done largely by faculty and leaders of the student organizations and is more formal and official. In the last few years, a revival of the formalities has occurred due to several restrictions imposed by the city council.[1] Students get the day off for the events; no classes are scheduled that day.[2]

Celebrations

Most student groups rent a large transport truck for the occasion, which they decorate in accordance with the year's theme. Each truck has a large number of kegs inside, and some students are designated to serve beer to the others all day, with an all-you-can-drink payment scheme. Many also bring large sound systems which play loud music all day. 2013's Saint-V saw 6000 students and 27 transport trucks take part in the procession.[3]

The students first meet at the Square du Grand Sablon/Grote Zavelsquare in central Brussels, and after several hours, the trucks start to move towards the Brussels Stock Exchange on the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan, Brussels' main boulevard. This takes several hours as well, as the trucks move only at a walking speed and are more often than not stopped due to the students surrounding them and on the road. Beer may not be served while the trucks are in motion. All roads which the procession goes on are closed to other traffic, including the Boulevard Anspach. The students then disperse and reconvene around 9 p.m. at ULB's Solbosch campus, where all the year's decorations are burnt semi-ceremonially.[4] Many alumni come to the university's discothèque on that night, which is normally only open to current students.

After the November 2015 Paris attacks, the city council decided to cancel the event [5] for the first time since World War II. A large part of the students, however, ignored that ban and proceeded to occupy the traditional starting point of the Square du Grand Sablon only to later continue with the procession on foot.[6] The year after that the City council forbade the use of the transport trucks and limiting the consumption of alcohol to the start- and endpoint, the students responded by throwing flour at each other and passers-bys. The origins of the flour-throwing dates back to a past tradition of the holiday where the students threw eggs, flour and water at the local catholic Bourgeoisie who used to live in and near the Square du Grand Sablon after they repeatedly pleaded with to city council to try and stop the event from happening because they disapproved of the students using the square as their starting point.[7]

In 2019, St V was included in the inventory of the Brussels cultural intangible heritage.[8][9][10]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint-Verhaegen.

References

  1. ↑ (in French)ULB's agenda for the holiday, 2007.
  2. ↑ "Calendrier académique et agenda 2007–2008" (in French). Université Libre de Bruxelles. 2007. Archived from the original on November 16, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Saint-Verhaegen calme et fraîche: moins d'interventions qu'en 2012" (in French). RTBF. November 20, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Saint-V: un étudiant décède lors du cortège, autopsie prévue – RTBF Regions". Rtbf.be. 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  5. ↑ "Politie controleert Grote Markt in Brussel, geen St-Vé-viering". De Morgen (in Dutch). 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  6. ↑ "Studenten houden spontane Saint-Vé-optocht: "Brussel is van ons"". De Morgen (in Dutch). 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  7. ↑ "Flour Power". www.demoeial.be. Archived from the original on 2017-10-03.
  8. ↑ "La Saint Verhaegen — Patrimoine - Erfgoed". patrimoine.brussels. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  9. ↑ McNally, Paul (2019-10-13). "Brussels student celebration St V joins cultural heritage list". The Bulletin. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  10. ↑ "La St-V fait son entrée au patrimoine culturel immatériel de la Région de Bruxelles". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-06.
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