Feast of Herring (Flag Day)
Description:
This holiday is often called Flaggetjesdag (Flaggetjesdag). Flags appear in the name of folk festivals because they traditionally decorate the harbor of the town of Schefeningen and nearby streets on this day. Those who come to the holiday will be able to eat plenty of delicacy - the first herring of the new season, the so-called "hollandse niuve". The first herring ship to enter the port of Schefeningen usually receives a cash premium.
At the beginning of the week, when the herring fleet returns from the sea, the fish is gutted in a special way, a little salt is added and placed in barrels. The first keg of selective haring - so called herring in Dutch - is given to Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. According to a long-established tradition, to commemorate the beginning of the new season, the monarch is given three buckets of fish of a certain size and weight, sufficient fat and salinity. And then they arrange an auction, which sells the second barrel of a low-salt delicacy this year. The price for it can reach up to 30 thousand euros! The proceeds go to charitable purposes.
The herring left after all these ceremonies is sold to everyone and sent to herring banquets held throughout the Netherlands, to which the local beaumonde gathers. People can more easily enjoy a real “maathiesharen” right on the street, buying a low-salt herring from one of the hawkers.
Sellers in national costumes in front of the buyer snatch from a bucket with muddy brine glossy fish, with unusual skill strip off her skin, separate the meat from the bones and after a minute serve the suffering pure fillet of low-salted herring.
Herring Day is celebrated by the play of numerous orchestras that filled the port of Schefeningen, horse racing right on the piers and deafening firing into the air from ancient guns. The harbour is filled with ancient sailboats and modern ocean vessels, inviting everyone to tours. In addition, all visitors to the holiday eat the herring of a new catch, following a certain ritual: eaters dip in a finely sliced onion of fish deprived of scales, intestines and bones, throw their heads to the sky and, holding their tail, send them into their mouths. Experienced people manage to chew all the slightly salted fish whole in one go. They eat herring with gray Dutch bread. He's drinking beer.
Until the 15th century, herring was not considered a food worthy of decent people. She was not stung because of the heavy smell of rancid fish oil and unpleasant bitter taste. It was the food of beggars and monks who humbled their pride and killed the flesh. King Louis IX sent her as alms to lepers.
This went on for a long time, until a Dutch fisherman, Willem Jacob Beikels, came up with an idea that completely changed the situation. Beikels before pickling began to remove the gills from the herring, because of which she, in fact, was bitter. In this case, he achieved perfection and even invented a way to remove them with a single movement of a knife. Thus prepared fish Beikels laid in barrels neat layers and evenly poured salt. He did all this directly into the sea, barely catching fish, and while the ship went to shore, the fish spilled in barrels.
Never before had anyone thought of messing around with such crap as a herring! The more surprised the neighbors of Beikels, when as a result of these manipulations, their fellow villager turned out to be a delicious, appetizing smell of fatty fish, which literally melted in his mouth. Herring began to be exported to large cities and very soon the “new product” was recognized throughout the Netherlands.
So began a real herring boom, which continues to this day. The fame of the Dutch herring quickly spread beyond the country and spread throughout Europe. Demand for beggar fish grew enormously, and Dutch merchants immediately began to invest in the organization of fishing. A whole "herring fleet" of fishing boats and ships was built, adapted specifically for fishing and pickling herring. The Dutch cherished the secret of herring production and, having no competitors, dictated their prices for a delicacy, without which the table of any royal court of Europe was already unthinkable. To this day, the tomb of the fisherman comes to worship the crowned persons. By the way, the first of the monarchs of the path to the cemetery was beaten by Emperor Charles V and his sister Mary, Queen of Hungary. The crowned brother and sister were avid lovers of herring and in 1556 visited the grave of the man who gave them such joy in life.