My name is Guido Urlings, a 26-year-old originally from Sittard in The Netherlands, although I currently reside in Centurion, South Africa. When asked by Sue-Ann de Wet, project coordinator for Worldwide (Wêreldwyd) to write about a traditional Christmas celebration in the area where I grew up, I instantly decided to write about our Kerstnachtrondgang. Although the tradition is not as area-specific, it is inseparably connected to Christmas as I used to know it.

Most villages, towns and cities in the province of Limburg have one or more orchestras. Every year on 24 December – Christmas Eve – several members of these orchestras give up their time with family and friends in a warm house to play Christmas songs throughout the cold village or town.

Unlike the rest of the Netherlands, the province of Limburg is mostly Catholic. Depending on the parish and priest’s preference, this means that there will be a Mass either early in the evening around 19:00, later in the evening around 23:00 or at both these times. In Nieuwstadt’s case, where I participated for several years, there was a Mass at 19:00.

At around 19:30, members of the orchestra would start to gather outside the community hall, preparing themselves to welcome homebound churchgoers with Christmas music outside the church. Thereafter, they would follow a somewhat pre-planned route through the village, stopping at random lampposts to play Christmas carols for appreciative audiences. So appreciative in fact, that we would often be greeted with a ‘warming’ alcoholic beverage or snack.

As the night would progress, alcohol consumption would too, having a slight impact on the quality of the music, but a rather lively impact on the atmosphere within the group. Apart from the occasional spontaneous drink or snack, non-participating orchestra members or volunteers would invite us weeks ahead of time to visit their house on that evening to share their family’s Christmas spirit and offer us a place to dry in case of rain or to warm up if it was too cold.

Around midnight, usually having weathered cold and rain, we would retire to one of the participating members’ homes to ponder the evening. This pondering would often last well into Christmas day, causing many of the younger musicians to only join in for Christmas lunch, sometimes perhaps with a light headache…

This year, rather than defying cold, rain or snow, I will spend my Christmas in South Africa for the first time, instead wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Nevertheless, I reckon my thoughts will be with those musicians back home, spreading Christmas joy throughout my province.

Guido Urlings