De Blauwe Schuit – Carrus Navalis – The Blue Barge

The tradition of pulling boats on carts through towns and cities dates back as far as 2600 BC in Babylon.
These “Carrus Navalis” were often used as part of the New Year’s celebration.

In ancient Egypt a statue of the sacred bull Apsis
(the embodiment of the god Osiris) was carried around
during the Winter Solstice celebration in December. 
The Greeks honored Dionysus and the Romans honored Bacchus,
(their respective gods of wine and mystical ecstasy)
parading through the streets at the March 21st start of their new year. 
The Teutons celebrated the (re)birth of the sun and the fertility goddess Nerthus in similar ways.

On these “ships” a slave would ride
who would be worshipped as a King.
This topsy-turvy world where the low-born became the high-born for a day
is still reflected in present day Carnival celebrations around the globe.
When the Mayor hands over the “keys” of the city to the chosen Prince Carnival,
the Prince symbolically presides over the city for the day.

There are records as early as 1135 of a ship on wheels
being used in satiric parades in The Low Countries.
This “Ship of Fools” was manned by crazy, vulgar and rude people, each afflicted
with a major but "curable" vice or imperfection. Murderers for example were excluded.

These seedy figures formed a Guild and sought safety on the Blauwe Schuit - the Blue Barge.
Guilds were associations of people of the same trade or pursuits
established to maintain standards of workmanship and ethical conduct.

As the Blauwe Schuit set its course through the city rowdy raucous celebrations and orgies
sprang up in its wake.
All were invited to come along as long as they continued their dissolute lives of sin, greed and wasteful extravagance.
Down-and-out nobility, snobby Society kids, stupid merchants, voracious monks, horny nuns, bossy women and failed students : they were only exempted from their membership once they regained wisdom, got married or became rich.

Traces of such Guilds of the Blauwe Schuit were found in Antwerp, Breda, Nijmegen and Utrecht.  Over time they evolved into real cabaret troops, specializing in farces and mockeries
aimed at poking fun at the established order.
Their main target were the Church and holy beliefs which they criticized relentlessly.
This choice of the Church as the main target of the Guilds leads us to the name “Blue Barge” .
Blue being the sacred color
and the Barge representing the ecclesiastical institution of the Church.

In literature we encounter the name “Blauwe Scuut” for the first time in 1413
in a poem by Jacob van Oestvoren, written as a Middle Dutch verse
to be recited on Shrove Tuesday as the season of Lent begins:

                    De Blauwe Scuut is een uitnodiging aan
                        "…Alle ghesellen van wilde manieren
                        te comen in die Blauwe Scuut
                        ende in der Blauwer Scuten ghilde
                        sijn si onedel of van den scilde…”

                    The Blue Barge is an invitation
                        “To all people of wild disposition
                        to board the Blue Barge
                        and join the Guild,
                        nobility or not….”

The painting “The Ship of Fools” by Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) is said
to be representative of this poem by van Oestvoren.” .
A blue boat also appears prominently in Pieter Breugel the Elder’s (1525-1569)
“Dulle Griet” or “Mad Mag”.

The building that you are now wining and dining in has a rich history as well. 
In the Middle Ages an Augustine Abbey stood on this spot.
Around 1900 the actual building was purchased by the renowned wine merchant, Boon-Hecking.
 
And, on May 10th, 1975 a cozy bar was installed in this stately house. 
Henceforth called De Blauwe Schuit.