Lentorama 2019: Resurrect My Globe!

Day 26: The Netherlands

The town of Ootmarsum has an unusual set of traditions centered around an Easter committee of eight men known as Poaskearls. These men are required to be born in the town, Catholic, and single. They also have to plan to remain single for four years, as once selected the person serves as a Poaskearl for four years.

They dress in a trenchcoat and hat getup that makes them look a lot like Inspector Gadget (the costume is modeled after that of a statue of eight men in the square near the church). 

The Poaskearls are responsible for collecting and arranging the wood for an Easter night bonfire and for an Easter Sunday procession that involves singing and another tradition called Vlöggeln, where, after singing the two songs that are sung during the Easter procession, eight children are raised up three times as a symbol of the resurrection.  There's a fair amount of drinking involved, and everything that happens on Sunday happens again on Easter Monday. 

This article gives a pretty in depth review of Easter in Ootmarsum and what the Poaskearls do (it's in Dutch, but the Google translation is pretty readable). What I would really love to know is how all of this got started. There is at least one reference to Vlöggeln going back to 1840, and a list of Poaskearls to 1900, but that's it. I'm also curious how the two new Poaskearls are chosen.

(And there's also this site for all of your Poaskearl needs.)