When arriving from a foreign country as a student in Leuven, one is confronted with many diverse unknown habits and rituals. It takes a while to discover why Flemish students only get out around midnight, or why they group together in bizarre bars or spots called fakbars. Still, the most mysterious ritual of it all is and will always be the cantus.

As any social movement that existed from the 19th century onwards, the student organisations have always strengthened their bonds by use of the singing of songs. At first these were in Latin and in German, later also Dutch, French, English and even South African songs were added. All these lyrics were bundled up in a little songbook, the so-called codex. Through history, this codex got bigger and bigger and up to this day, it is an essential element for every visitor of a cantus. The central activity of a cantus is singing. Students would get together in the old days, sing their solemn, meaningful songs and fill up the remainder of these ceremonial evenings with speeches, both serious and political as satirical and heckling. Students, however, are who they are, and the aftermath of evenings like these had to be blessed with a couple of beers. In the course of time, the beer knew how to take up a more prominent place during the ceremony and today a cantus without beer is unimaginable. Never forget though, that singing still is considered the main activity. The beer is just present to help a little in the process.

As Leuven knows many student organizations, we know many different minimal variations in the cantus habits. Still, every cantus is based on the same principles and with these you will definitely survive all of them. A cantus is full of rules. The participants or commilitones have to sit at long tables facing each other – this is called the corona. At the end of these tables there is one smaller table. The leaders of the cantus are seated at this one: the senior, who is often the preses of the student organization, the cantor, who introduces the songs, and a master of mores, who punishes those who fail to follow the rules - Rules concerning talking, for instance. It is forbidden to talk without permission of the senior. For to obtain this permission, one has to put up ones hands in a V-shape and ask ‘senior, peto verbum’. Furthermore, Talking amongst each other and during the songs is strictly forbidden as well as going to the bathroom. For this, again you need permission, here by making a T with your hands and asking ‘senior, peto tempus’. Oftentimes, one has to utter a kind of poem to earn this privilege of going to the bathroom. Do not fear for your bladder though, there are collective bathroom breaks as well. Drinking, on the other hand, is free for all. There are moments in which the senior will ask everyone to rise (‘surgite’) and join him in a so-called ad fundum, a collective bottoms-up.

So some serious drinking is going on at a cantus, but the focus will always lie on the singing and having fun. The songs have historical value and are sometimes difficult to understand properly without some background. Some of them might seem nationalistic and racist in this day and age, but this is only because of the changing of times. We have acquired the rights our predecessors were protesting for, so these songs should be seen as a relic from times gone-by. Of course, the codex is also filled with songs about drinking and having fun, folk of different cultures, or concerning the greatest theme of all – love.

A cantus is something you have to have experienced at least once during your stay in Leuven, and once you get the taste of this celebration of song, word, beer, tradition and friendship, you will be hooked for life! |

Join us at the LOKO International Cantus on November 23rd!