‘Gerrits’ one last took part in the carnival parade in Overloon on Sunday. After more than fifty years, the group has called it a day after four generations. “In recent years it has become less, the group smaller. Most of the children have flown out or are participating with friends and we are getting older one day. Then we said: we should just close it down.”
Lucy Gerrits has been participating in the carnival parade since 1976: “I’m not a real Gerrits. I’ve been married for 45 years.” But that wasn’t an issue. Everyone was welcome. All families of the Gerrits family from Overloon participated for years. Now she and her brother-in-law are dismantling and tidying up the items from the last parade. “We can still do it, but we don’t want to anymore,” says Lucy.
In 1972, a carnival parade for adults started at the initiative of Lies Gerrits and a number of others from the village. “At that time there was only a parade for children. There were no prices yet, that only came later,” says Mariet Gerrits, another daughter-in-law. “Gerrits’ was a logical name, because then everyone in Overloon immediately knows who you are talking about.”
The first time went ‘We’re tired Gerrits’ together with other family members in jute bags. There were potatoes under the motto in a cart with cotton wool ‘During the pager we all see the bag’, because the potatoes were so expensive that year. “That was the first time I participated,” says Mariet. Since then, ‘Die van Gerrits’ has participated every year.
“I must say that the women were somewhat in charge, although we did of course need the men for all kinds of chores. We did everything together: making clothes together, doing face painting and seeing if we could do it together as cheaply as possible, because it was always quite a group. It was a real family celebration.”
Lies’ granddaughter, Nicol Gerrits, also agrees. She has been participating in the parade in Overloon since she was three. “Yes, I participated for 35 years, I am now 38,” says the mother of three children.
There was always plenty of creativity, she remembers. “I remember when we participated as the ‘Ass Cruncher’. Then they made very large buttocks with a slide in the buttocks that we had to slide through as children.” The theme was 1990 ‘Everything runs smoothly for us’ and the whole family went roller skating. “We had been practicing for that for weeks.”
But after more than fifty years, ‘Die van Gerrits’ is now over. “On the one hand, that’s quite a shame, but the group became smaller and smaller and my uncles and aunts are just getting older. It became increasingly difficult to get enough people together.”
The fact that the group ceases to exist does not mean that there are no longer Gerritses who continue the tradition. Since last year, Nicol has been participating in his own group with the meaningful name ‘The nope generation’. “With friends and their husbands and children. Some already come along as a baby.” She is not the only one: “Cousins and nieces are also now participating in other groups. It’s in our blood after all.”