Leiden,3 October. A Precious And Important Celebration.... Poem by Sylvia Frances Chan

Leiden,3 October. A Precious And Important Celebration....
A Narration, not A Poem

The Siege of Leiden, Holland, The Netherlands.
When I first came to the Netherlands,
I lived in Leiden for 8 years.
The siege of Leiden on the 3rd of October
was celebrated annually,
we ate white bread with herring
and for dinner I cooked "beef stew".

This meal is very tasty,
but looks like a dinner for the less fortunate.
Carrots, potatoes and onions, all cooked together,
added with a large piece of meat or pork
of your choice and of course added with a delicious
present day's sauce.
A very tasty meal, to drink with white wine,
containing at least Chardonnay grapes.

This is the Dutch tradition from Leiden
during the 80 years of war with Spain. (1574)

The citizens were trapped in their hometown,
nothing to eat, only carrots, potatoes, anf onions.
Finally when the Spaniards came to conquer Holland,
arriving in Leiden, Holland had overruled the Spaniards
with a simple idea:
the canals over flooded with water,
the Duke of Alva could not sail deeper into Holland
and Leiden had its victory,
meaning Holland had won from Spain.

To celebrate this great Victory,
they prepared a feast meal only from
the few things left: carrots, potatoes and onions cooked together, added with meat or pig meat.

The Dutch has still this simple meal in their menu
as a token of the end of the long war and of the Dutch Victory.
We have a saying: "In Leiden begins the victory".

What is left today?
We still eat this menu as a normal dinner (the Siege of Leiden vaguely at the background in our thoughts)
with a good glass of white wine
with Chardonnay grapes. A true hearty meal.

Recalling that Siege of Leiden,
they will not tell you anything about the crimson water in the canals or the rust-brown dry spots in the streets of Leiden.
Okay, that was it then.


Narrated by Sylvia Frances Chan
on Thursday 3 October 2019 about LEIDEN
All Rights Reserved - ©Sylvia Frances Chan