About Manten & Kalle Events, a brief introduction...
MANTEN & KALLE, giants from Zaffelare
Zaffelare, a village in East Flanders, Belgium. This sub-municipality of Lochristi, had two giants between the two world wars, namely Manten and Kalle.
The expression refers to an inseparable, imaginary elderly couple; Amandus (Manten) and Kathelijne (Kalle). Both well-mannered who do their best but still seem a little 'simple'. We sometimes heard the Flemish expression as a sort of self-deprecation from two elderly people: "Here are Manten and Kalle".
The original giants disappeared without a trace shortly after World War II.
It was only in September 2018 that they were mentioned again, after the online publication of some old photos of the giants by the local historian: Bert Vervaet. As a resident of Zaffelare, Luc Vincent had expressed, eight years earlier, the wish to organize some events in honor of the 800th anniversary of the village in 2021. This wish became reality after initial financial support from
FPZ ( Committee for the organization of celebrations of the parish of Zaffelare, a local cultural association).
Seeing the photos of the ancient giants on Facebook, Luc Vincent had the idea of considering their reconstruction as the first project for the 800 years of Zaffelare. The Parish Working Group for 800 years of Zaffelare (Parochiale Werkgroep voor 800 jaar Zaffelare) was founded with volunteers from the municipality to organize all the events together (Sabine, Achiel, Mario and Bruno).
Manten and Kalle during their first dance, on the evening of their inauguration, in the presence of the 'Reinaertreuzen', the giants of Lochristi.
The works on the giants started with sketches, followed by the search for rattan frames. After that, the sculpting of the heads began. They are made by a local sculptor named Patrick Van Ryckeghem. Finally came the making of the enormous outfits for the two giants. They were manifactured by Marleen Vernaeve. Luc and his son Arthur painted on the sculpted heads.
On June 12, 2021, Manten and Kalle were for the first time presented to the public at EXPO 2021, an exhibition featuring many historical objects from Zaffelare's past. The exposition was organized by 'De Nieuwe Ontginning', a second association that did also create events for the 800th anniversary of Zaffelare.
On August 13, 2021, the giants were solemnly inaugurated by the deputy mayor Sandro Di Nunzio, in the presence of a limited number of witnesses (due to Covid) and assisted by all the giants of Lochristi (De Reinaertreuzen de Lochristi, Scheele Vanderlinden from Zeveneken and Nonkel Octaaf from Lochristi). Since then, the giants have participated in several processions and have been invited to bring extra color to local festivities.
Some links to pages concerning the giants Manten and Kalle. For the moment only in Dutch,
They nevertheless contain many photos which speak for themselves. :)
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The story of the giants Manten and Kalle - Photos of the giants with the working group - First event at EXPO 2021
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The inauguration - First procession - The place of residence of the giants
Creation of events, small and larger :)
A second important goal of Manten & Kalle Events is to (co-)organize small and somewhat larger cultural events, as mentioned before, preferably in collaboration with other (cultural) associations from Zaffelare, Lochristi or others.
These events can be singing and/or dancing performances, (puppet) theater, historical evocations, camps or shows linked to history.
Local or world history.
For the festivities of the 800th anniversary of Zaffelare, our working group invited Historia Mundi ('organisation which aims to bring together Belgian associations dealing with 're-enacting' and living history into one confederation' - text taken from their website), to organize a historic weekend. This on June 25 and 26, 2022.
The camp occupied around 5 ha of the magnificent Domaine Provincial Puyenbroeck in Wachtebeke (a neighboring commune of Zaffelare), counted around 800 re-enactors representing different eras
It was a great success !
On the left, a promotional video for Historia Mundi 2023 with images from 2022 at Domaine provincial Puyenbroeck in Wachtebeke. (video: VeLuLux production)
On September 10 and 11 of the same year, we organized the vintage fashion show '100 Years of Fashion, Vintage Fashion Show' (100 Jaar Mode, Vintage Modeshow) in collaboration with the 'Retrospective Vintage Modemuseum' in Gavere (Flanders). eastern).
During a fashion show lasting around an hour and a half, some forty models showed the public the beautiful private collection of Vivien Casson - owner of the museum - made up of original outfits for women and men from the period 1875-1975.
A dazzling show with tones of old music or films, appropriate acting and above all beautiful clothes.
The shows were presented for the benefit of 2 cancer organizations, namely KOESTER (Children's Cancer Fund) and OIGO (help for adult patients with palliative or convalescent cancer).
More information, although in Dutch and accompanied by many photos and videos, can be found here.
The 800th anniversary celebrations of Zaffelare ended with a concert by the young author/musician Dries Van Haute on September 24, 2024.
In the beautiful, comfortable, warm and historic setting of 'De Maalderij ', an outbuilding of a Zaffelare castle restored to house all kinds of events, spectators were able to enjoy the soft and silky voice of electronic, sometimes psychadelic music, composed by Dries. This concert surely made people want to hear more.
Therefore, Dries is once again invited to give a concert on March 9, 2024. This time as the opening act for the famous Flemish music producer and musician Jean Blaute, as part of the musical performance of the biography about himself: 'Met Vallen en Opstaan'.
Jean Blaute is accompanied for the occasion by his friend and fellow musician Erik Melaerts. This evening-filling double concert will take place at the Speurdonkhof in Zaffelare and is a collaboration between Cultuur Zaffelare (CuZa) and Manten & Kalle Events.
On May 7, 2023, a first event was organized under the new wings of Manten & Kalle Events (the previous ones were carried out by the working group): the 'Demodag Middeleeuwse Krijgskunsten' or demonstration day of medieval martial arts in the Zaffelare gym. Two medieval-inspired sports were presented to the public: H.E.M.A. (Historical European Martial Arts) and Medieval Full Contact (Bohurt).
H.E.M.A. stands for Historical European Martial Arts and is an umbrella term for all martial arts that have been used in Europe throughout history, ranging from Greek wrestling, longsword fighting and crossbow shooting .
The H.E.M.A. club that is joining our event is called
vzw M.E.Z.
Medieval Full Contact or Bohurt is a young full contact martial art based on the rules of Middle Ages tournaments. Just like with H.E.M.A. steel weapons are used, although they are not sharp. But unlike previous sport, participants wear full armor, usually inspired by the 14th century.
The fights are energetic and powerful.
The two sports disciplines organized tournaments and a championship that day. A national team was also created for Bohurt, composed of Flemish and Walloon participants.
More information (in Dutch), please see this site.
Our plans for 2024
The goal is always to have the new giants Manten and Kalle participating in a procession in their own village or in other villages and cities.
We want to recruit members and helping hands for the Manten & Kalle Events association to be able to participate in giant processions. We need people to help us carry the giants and people to assist with it. We are also looking for six adult couples to play the children of the giants.
In case of a procession in Zaffelare (the village of Manten and Kalle), we need to motivate other cultural and non-cultural associations to participate in, for example, a folk procession.
There are still a number of projects ahead in which historical reenactment will play a part, as well as the Hendrik De Vos Puppet Theater, which will work closely with Manten & Kalle Events. But these are still distant plans. Once more concrete, you will learn about them on this website.
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If you have any questions or want to contact us, do not hesitate to do so via the contact form or directly at luc.vincent@telenet.be.
Manten & Kalle Events is a cultural association that was founded in 2023 following the festivities for the celebration
of the 800 years of Zaffelare, one of the sub-municipalities of Lochristi in East Flanders (Belgium).
The cultural association primarily takes care of the local giants Manten and Kalle, from which it borrows its name.
Manten & Kalle Events has yet other projects too: alone, or preferably in collaboration with other associations, it strives to bring shows, exhibitions, musical performances and other less obvious events. Always with a touch of magic and bathed in a historical atmosphere.