Argo rowers taking part in the Mousteight. Photo Guy Ackermans When the days get shorter and the temperature drops, student societies bring extra warmth. Not by turning up the heating a bit, but by focusing on two important aspects of the Christmas spirit: taking care of one another and being together. (And by burning Christmas trees.)
TAKING CARE OF ONE ANOTHER
Heroic tour
In recent years, new traditions in raising money for charity have emerged at various Wageningen student societies. For example, WVS Ceres has been committed to the ALS foundation for almost a decade after a former member was diagnosed with the muscular disease. During a campaign week in November 7000 euros was raised, says Victoria van der Deijl of Stichting Durf, the Ceres charity committee. ‘Every year, we organize a campaign week for the charity full of activities. Think pizza deals, collecting empty crates at Ceres club houses, and a lottery. Or an assault course where you could sabotage other teams in exchange for donations—for example by smearing extra green soap on the course. The closing event was an ALS sponsored walk, which raised the most money.’
Another young tradition, which started in the middle of the pandemic at KSV Franciscus, is the Francerious Request. It’s a radio marathon for charity like the 3FM Serious Request, but on a smaller scale. The Wageningen Franciscans broadcast radio non-stop for 72 hours and think of all kinds of actions to raise money for a local charity. ‘Francerious Request gets bigger every year and members come up with more and more creative actions,’ says chair Roos Donkers.
For example, a year group covered 380 kilometres in two rickshaws this year during a heroic tour from Zeeland to Wageningen via Amsterdam. ‘And aside from raising money and giving something back to your local community, such an action also creates solidarity within the society.’ This year, a record sum 8400 euros was raised for the Speelgoedbank, an organization that collects toys for low-income families in and around Wageningen.
Moustaches and Petes
In just a couple of years, rowing organization Argo have established a new autumn classic on the water: the Mousteight. Teams of eight rowers and a cox compete against each other, says Argonaut Morris Koetse. ‘Always at the end of November, always with a moustache.’ The competition is in celebration of Movember, a month of action revolving around men’s health. ‘With the Mousteight and other actions, we are raising awareness of mental health in men, prostate cancer and testicular cancer. We also raise money for charities in this field.’ Argo is now the official ‘student ambassador’ of Movember, which means that they invite other Wageningen societies to join in. Students at KSV Franciscus, JV Unitas and SSR-W also grew moustaches and raised money. In total, the combined Movember actions accounted formore than 1500 euros.
And there are more collaborations. For instance, the charity committees Fiducia (Franciscus) and Durf (Ceres) joined forces this year for the annual Pete campaign. Members of the societies collected money, bought presents and then delivered them – dressed up as Petes – on Saint Nicholas’ Eve. ‘This is usually just a Franciscus event,’ says Van der Deijl of Durf. ‘A good friend of mine is in Fiducia. We thought: if we do this with two societies, we can make even more children happy on 5 December.’
BEING TOGETHER
Francistmas and Proppenfeest
Each society has its own traditions for being together. At Franciscus, it’s Francistmas time on the Friday before the Christmas holiday, says chair Donkers. ‘All club houses have their own Christmas dinner with alumni. Afterwards, everyone goes to the pub in their Christmas outfits.’ Ceres also gets festive on that Friday, with the Proppenfeest. Here too it will first be time for a Christmas dinner at the Ceres club houses, says chair Quirine Kerpen. ‘A lot of former housemates come, which makes it extra fun. Afterwards, around midnight, everyone goes to the society to continue the party into the wee hours.’
At Argo, Christmas dinner is held at the society. It has a few special traditions, says chair Rogier Derksen.‘First-year rowers organize the dinner. One of the traditions is that every year we serve one more course than the year before. I don’t know when it started, but when I was a first-year in 2019 we served twenty courses.’ This also includes simple courses, he says. ‘A spoon of quark or a handful of peanuts, for example, also counts as a course.’
Christmas tree
The first-year rowers also have to arrange a Christmas tree, which must always be bigger than the year before, says Derksen. ‘Last year they got a huge tree 15 metres tall. In the end, they had to cut it in half, so it would fit in the corner at an angle. It was very ugly but also very big.’ The first-years don’t just have to arrange the tree, they also have to protect it against senior Argonauts, who try to get the tree outside. ‘Sometimes the tree ends up in the rowing tank, so it gets wet. Sometimes the tree ends up in the fireplace so it gets burned.’
After the Christmas dinner, the Argonauts go to the Proppenfeest at Ceres with as many members as possible, according to Derksen. ‘A nice ending.’ Although, ending? The next day, all competitive rowers are expected back at Argo early in the morning for a rowing competition. ‘We make random crews: female, male, light, heavy – all mixed. And then we race together. Everyone is hungover, everyone is tired, so of course it doesn’t work at all. That’s how we teach our rowers that alcohol and rowing hard don’t go well together.’ What is the name of this traditional rowing lesson? ‘The Christmas Tree.’
