A kangaroo, a monkey, a dragon and a penguin: it is a selection of all the onesies that have attracted a group of former students from student association Demos in Eindhoven for seven years in a row on Sunday of Paaspop. What once started as a joke that got out of hand to stay warm has become a special tradition. “You can easily find each other.”
Spotting the group is not difficult. With the sunny weather, many festival visitors run in shorts and shirts, a huge contrast with the thick onesies of the former students.
“The idea of all putting on a onesie was born out of need,” says Krokodil Carl. “Seven years ago it was very cold, especially at night. To stay warm, we came with a group of twelve in onesies,” says Anke who walks around in a onesie like strawberry.
The festival has grown over the years, but the special tradition too. The group now consists of nearly thirty people. “We have deer, unicorns, sharks, bears and a kangaroo with a baby in the pouch,” Anke sums up.
“Everyone who comes along has to buy a suit, including the partners who want to come,” says Carl. “Then everyone attracts the same suit every year, always on Sunday,” adds Anke.
The group composition differs every year. “We are all around thirty years. Some people are not there for a year because they just had a child, just like me last year,” says Anke. One animal is the queen of the zoo. The 50-year-old Penguin Katinka is the founder of the Dispute of the Student Association.
The tradition requires a lot of endurance from the former students. “It’s very hot in recent years and certainly in such a suit, but at night it is nice and warm again,” says the cold -blooded crocodile.
It may be very hot, but there are also advantages to know anke. “You can easily find each other. Willem is a dragon of two meters, it will stand out.”
With such a soft onesie you naturally like to crawl close together to cuddle and and so a love also flourished within the club. Kangaroo Joey already knew club mate Milou, but when they met again ten years later at a performance, the spark skipped.
“The following year Milou went to the festival as a monkey,” says Joey de Kangaroo. In two weeks the couple will even get married. The animal suits do not appear before the altar, but may be packed for the wedding night.
