Verse haring! The thought of eating raw herring was something I had refused to entertain. My female Dutch teacher had warned that’s this practice is something- “you either love it or leave it!”
But, she said, many persons especially males, relished in taking in the raw stuff. She said that her husband loved it but she herself wasn’t into it.
My male Dutch teacher said that it’s a must. According to him, one cannot have the full Netherlands experience without it. Furthermore, he added, preparing and cooking herring would destroy both the nutrition and flavour you got from the raw fish. And he wasn’t talking sushi either.
Well, the day came when I was invited to Leiden for the celebration of freedom at the end of the 80-year war with Spain. – Leiden Ontzet popularly known as 3 octberfeest. I saw different spellings for October- Octobuur, Octoburr, Octburrr… based on the Leidenaars tendency in emphasising the last syllable.
I was told that we had to leave the house by 6:10 a.m. in order to participate in community singing, an on a day with the promise of rain. Imagine! Well that turned out ever so well, and from the newspaper clipping you see that it’s still a growing affair. That’s me in the yellow circle singing my heart away. Thankfully, there were more than enough Dutch voices to drown out whatever gibberish I was singing.
After joining in Reveille singing at the city hall, there was more koraal (chorale singing) at another venue. By this time, I was all into it, partly because we were singing some of the tunes, such as Drie Oktoberleid for the second time; but there were new ones too, one even rendered by the composer herself! And, as the commentator observed, it was truly an intergenerational affair with children, parents, grandparents and great grandparents in attendance.
In between the two singing sessions, though, we went to a friend’s home. And that was where I ate the fresh herring! Everyone else was doing that. And guess what? It tasted good, really good with the special (wit brood) white bread made to accompany verse haring.
After our herring breakfast fellowship, we went to Sint Pieterskerk for Herdenkinsgsdienst 2025. It’s the fullest church service I’ve attended in this country. Not a seat left over for the tiniest bum to sit on! And that meant singing the Wilhelmus for the third time that day before we returned to grab our chairs to make ourselves comfortable at the roadside as we witnessed the Carnival parade matching the theme, Als Een Komeet.
It was there that I got deeper into Dutch ways and had my oyster straight from the shell. (Check out the photo!) I was into it. Really enjoyed it. I’d taken my umbrella despite being told that the rain would let us witness the parade comfortably. Yes, I was comfortable even on a cold day! And when the first raindrops fell, one in our company told me, “Deny the drops!” and would you believe it? That I did! And hardly any no rain interrupted our view of the theme floats, or the merry music that started, punctuated and ended the parade.
For all the traditional food that day, I took my hutspot home with me and had it the next day.
One thing I’ll say, I not only enjoyed the day but, partaking of the ingredients, I came to understand the Geuzenlied that we had been singing so lustily.
Haring, hutspot, wittebrood
Daar komen geuzen, daar komen geuzen
Haring, Hutspot, wittebrood
Daar komen geuzen al in een boot