Carnival must be on the UNESCO heritage list. At least that’s what they find in Oosterhout, where they fight through like true Gauls. The founders of a brand new ‘National Carnival Foundation Het Groote Gevolg’ still have a number of hurdles to overcome. This is what awaits them and what they want to achieve with it.
“UNESCO is quite positive, but we need the highest carnival body behind us. I think that’s the people, but they didn’t think that was enough. So we set up the highest authority ourselves,” laughs Paul Oudenhooven, who was Prince Mienus XIV in his Kaaiendonk for more than six years.
‘More than a booze party’
According to the former prince, a carnival has a serious image problem. “It is much more than an ordinary booze party. A place on the list is recognition and important for the image”, Paul disproves a commonly heard prejudice. “Everyone is dressed up and therefore equal, all hierarchy disappears. We are all fools, put it bluntly,” says the former prince. “Carnival is a positive spiral that ensures togetherness and happiness. And I’ve never had beer as a prince in 6.5 years.”
The plan for a place on the list already received great support in 2020. More than a hundred carnival princes pleaded at the provincial government for a place on the list. Former commissioner Wim van de Donk also signed the petition of Prince Mienus, who was also the brains behind the idea at the time. “That evening was fantastic, bizarre and unanimous. I was convinced that it would work”, Paul looks back.
Long way to go
Yet the feast of feasts is not yet close to a spot on the so-called UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. UNESCO is a cultural organization of the United Nations that works to protect heritage worldwide. For example, they give courses on how to pass on heritage from generation to generation.
One of the conditions set by the organization is that the nomination must first be on the national list. In our case that is the Inventory of Intangible Heritage Netherlands. That hasn’t happened yet. “We are going to nominate carnival soon and that is not that difficult,” says Paul confidently. “The foundation is already a first new step.”
Summer Carnival
If this is successful, another bump will follow. The Minister of Education, Culture and Science must then want to nominate carnival. He receives advice from the Council for Culture, which, like the minister, sits well above the rivers. The minister has not yet responded to questions from Omroep Brabant. A glimmer of hope: the summer carnival was previously nominated, but that will only be discussed in 2023.
The UNESCO office then checks in, yes, Paris whether the nomination is complete and meets all the requirements. After a year and a half, all kinds of experts from all parts of the world are still looking at it. “So it will take years anyway”, Paul knows, who does not want to give up. Last year the corso culture was added to the UNESCO list.