Cantus Day

Last Wednesday, May 3, was an interesting day for me. For one thing, it was the first day it was warm enough to wear the one pair of shorts I brought with me. My first class wasn't until 4 p.m., so I met some friends of mine in the park before hand. In every place I've been to where the sky is overcast for many months in a row, sunny days are always greeted with enthusiasm. Belgium is no exception. It seemed like all the students in Leuven were outside laying in the grass or sitting outside at the little cafe tables that have taken over the narrow streets. This picture shows just one small portion of the park in the center of the city. It was thick with students. The only gaps between people on the grass of more than a few meters were for the frisbee players. My friend Karina's pink socks can be seen in the foreground.

After sunning for a few hours, I went to my Mergers and Acquisitions class: more proof that even an interesting subject can be boring when taught in a monotone. The real highlight of the day though was the Cantus. Cantus is Latin for "song", but in Belgium the meaning is a little bit more complicated. For quite some time, centuries (if the Belgian students are to be believed), the students of Belgium have understood a Cantus to be a large party organized around a game involving copious ammounts of singing and drinking and a smattering of Latin phrases. As it is a Belgian tradition, I felt I couldn't pass up the opportunity when the law school student organization (the VRG) announced that they were putting on a Cantus for the exchange students.

My friends and I showed up at the designated bar, Pavlov, promptly at 8:0o p.m. We were warned it's not the kind of party you can just show up to at any time. After paying our 9 euro, all the participating students, about 45 from all over Europe plus me, sat down around two large tables in the back room and servers brought out beer, lots of beer, two glasses each that got replaced as soon as we drank them. It wa Stella all evening, which was fine by me as it's still my favorite.


After we all got our two full glasses in front of us, the Belgian student from the VRG who was running the show went to the front of the room and explained the Rules. His role for the evening would be that of Senior. He was to be obeyed by the rest of us, known collectively as the Corona. We were only allowed to go to the bathroom on designated breaks unless we could come up with an AABB rhyme beginning with the line "During the night of the VRG Cantus at Pavlov". This made me a bit nervous since I couldn't think of anything that rhymed with Pavlov, and I hadn't yet had anything to drink. Furthermore, anytime the Senior said "Ad Fundum", which means "to the bottom", we had to salute the Senior, the Corona and then finish all the beer left in our glass, even if it was full.

After explaining the rules, the Senior began to lead us in song. We started with two Dutch songs that are apparently sung at each Cantus. Each was followed by an "ad fundum", which quickly left our first two glasses empty. Then we moved on to more familair songs, mostly in English since that was the most common language among us. We got progressively louder as we sang "Oh my darling", "Loch Lomon'", "Yellow Submarine" and others. The singing was interspersed with various silly games including a drinking race between the Scottish and the English (the English won) and the German and the Spanish (the Germans won). For a few of the songs, the Senior called up volunteers to help lead. Here's five lads who thought they were attractive doing a rendition of Backstreet's Back.


We had a good time singing YMCA too, but it was "I Will Survive" that became the anthem for the evening. Everyone seemed to know the words and really get into it the first time we sang it. Since it was the most popular song of the evening, the Senior suggested we sing it as our last song as well. By this point in the evening, we had all had enough to drink that most of us, including yours truly, ended up dancing on the tables as we shouted the lyrics with all the force our inebriated lungs could muster. My friend Mike from the U.K. demonstrates below.


Despite all the beer, I somehow managed to avoid a hangover the next morning, though my voice was a little hoarse form all the singing. It's certainly not something I could do every night, but I'm glad I had the experience. The Cantus is one tradition I wouldn't mind importing.