While its all gay and merry now, the origins of Kattenstoet is much darker.
It was thought that cats harbored evils spirits and the Devil himself.
So while the poor animals howled in pain, the crowd shrieked with laughter.
In the city of Ypres too cats were used as victims in numerous folkloristic games.
Wool was imported from England, and woven into fine garments by highly skilled craftsmen.
But the cloth attracted mice, which gnawed at the cloth and procreated to unhealthy numbers.
To control the mice population, the cloth traders of Ypres brought in their natural predator, the cat.
But cats procreate too and soon there were too many cats than the city could handle.
And so the cat killing began.
The barbaric practice continued until 1817 when the last killing took place.
In 1938, a group of young altar boys organized a sort of cat parade.
Each was carrying a toy cat.
Since then, every three years the city has been celebrating Cats Festival.
The Cloth Hall is the most magnificent building of Ypres today.
It was destroyed during World War I, but was meticulously reconstructed to its prewar condition.
Photo credit:Steve Mullarkey/Flickr
Photo credit:Cedric Dubois/Flickr
Photo credit:Tim Dobbelaere/Flickr
Sources:www.kattenstoet.be/Wikipedia/www.knowyourcat.info
