Netherlands Events and Festivals

3/01/2009 - 3/31/2009Silent Procession (Still Ommegang)

Amsterdam is sometimes called the 'Miracle City', and one particular miracle is remembered each year with a special mass and an historic procession. According to tradition, a man lay seriously ill in his house on the Kalverstraat and apparently died on 15 March 1345. Despite the body being burned once and buried twice, the deceased miraculously made his way back to his house on at least two occasions. A chapel was later built on the site, although history fails to record the final fate of the man himself. In earlier centuries a procession from the chapel grew to such grand proportions it was eventually banned. Nowadays, people walk, cycle or arrive by other means of pilgrimage, to join in the night-time 'Still Ommegang'. The circuit takes about an hour to complete.