Meyboom

Origins The tradition goes back seven centuries, and according to the local folklore, commemorates a victory of Brussels over the nearby Flemish town of Leuven in 1213. That year, a brawl broke out between the two cities over taxation on beer. Indeed, at the beginning of the 13th century, the bourgeois of Brussels enjoyed frequenting guinguettes (i.e. small taverns) located outside the city walls, where the price of beer was not subject to city taxes. One afternoon, a gang of troublemakers from Leuven turned up in force and unexpectedly attacked one of these guinguettes, Het Cattenhuys, where a wedding was being celebrated. The Companions of St Lawrence, a city guild whose members were present in the establishment, came to the aid of Brussels' inhabitants and vigorously repelled the aggressor. This feat of arms has long puzzled historians, as there are no documents to corroborate the legend. Another version pits the people of Brussels against those of Ghent, and a third, mentioned by the French historian Adolphe Guérard, includes the people of Leuven, united with those of Brussels, in this fight. Variants also place the events in 1143 or 1308. The 1143 version refers to a marriage between a man from Leuven and a woman from Brussels, a relationship that ended abruptly. although this delay of almost 100 years remains unexplained. The first explicit mention of the Meyboom dates from 1579, when the Chamber of Accounts allowed the inhabitants of the district known as the "Bas-Fonds" (today's Marais–Jacqmain district) to fetch the tree from the Sonian Forest, on the outskirts of Brussels, and bring it back to the city for planting. The custom was once again reported in 1635 and 1648. In 2005, the Meyboom was recognised as intangible heritage of the French Community of Belgium, In 2017, the Meyboom was included in the inventory of intangible cultural heritage of the Brussels-Capital Region. ==Celebrations==