While we always like to hear from readers, an email we recently received was special. The sender lives in Zandvoorde (West Flemish: Zanvôorde) which is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The rural village is a part of the municipality of Zonnebeke. We have been to this part of Belgium and we know that the area is pastoral with rolling hills[1]. In fact it is a gorgeous and friendly place to visit.
Marble Tasting: Proeven Van
The reader also told us about an event planned for August this year. Here is the information:
TASTING MARBLES AND PLAYING WITH THE MARBELS in Zandvoorde village point (Zonnebeke). Including telling stories about marble histories past and present. With the cooperation of Antonny Verschaeve, Wervik marble club, Christiaan Therry, neighbor Hubert and many local marble enthusiasts. Please note the next date in your diary. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 2 AUGUST 2023 from 2 pm. Special thanks already to the Wervik marble club. And to all the marbelers who put a marble in the bag.
We are all looking forward to it. Will you be the new champion??? Surprise: that same afternoon also tasting of four in a row.
Please excuse our wobbly translation. And if you don’t understand the phrase “tasting marbles” then you can translate proeven van from the West Flemish dialect! Be careful not to try and translate proeven alone because it needs the “of” that follows it to make any sense at all!
We checked the translation with Antonny Verschaeve, who is mentioned in the announcement, and then with the writer of the announcement, and we were told that the words proven van mean “tasting of”.
Eat, Drink, & Play Marbles!
At any rate we all get the concept. We have attended marble meets where food and drink played a key role. And where food and drink made some of our best memories! These events were very special and we remember each one.
We regret we won’t be in Zonnebeke in August, but it sounds like a whole lot of fun. The planned event itself is important to marble collectors both here and there because it lets us all know that, in one way or another, marbles and the games of marbles are both being “rediscovered” in Belgium!
‘t Lusterke
Antonny Verschaeve, who is mentioned in the announcement above and who is active in marble resurgence in West Flanders, has owned the café ‘t Lusterke, in Wervik, for eleven years but regrettably now has it on the market.[2] We feel that this may be a hiccup at the nascent Wervik marble club, but we have no idea what impact it may have.
When we had trouble translating ‘t Lusterke, Antonny emailed us that “Lusterke means, a Flemisch word for a certain kind of light we use to have in our living rooms back in the 50´s 60´s 70´s. But also in our dialect, slang, it mean´s listen!! Listen to another!! People can teach you a lot of things. Good or bad.” Nice name; nice philosophy.
A Celtic Village
Wervik is about a fifteen minute drive south from Zonnebeke (about nine miles). Wervik West Flanders, is a very old town. It is situated about nine miles from the French border and lies on the Leie River. The French Wervek is called Wervicq-Sud or, in Dutch, Wervik-Zuid.
If Wendy Leyn, Antonny, Christiaan Therry, and other marble enthusiasts can revive marble “fever” in Belgium then we are confident that they will draw people from Wervik, Menen, Ledegem, and other Dutch towns and villages.
Being the oldest city of West-Flanders, Wervik has a rich history behind it. The city name is derived from ‘Viroviacum’ as it was headed by the Celtic tribe of Virovos.
A Smoky Tidbit
Something that we found very interesting is that Wervik is the center for tobacco production in Belgium! “Tobacco growing began to flourish since the second half of the 17th century, and Wervik became an important tobacco centre in the first half of the 18th century.”[3] Tobacco is still grown in the region today. See https://derijkstebelgen.be/vermogende/familie-vandecasteele
Marbles in Belgium Today
We have introduced Antonny Verschaeve. He, Wendy Leyn, Christiaan Therry, and others are now working hard to grow the marble club in Wervek. Verschaeve was featured in Gentleman and Ladies magazine: “Happiness [Antonny said] is often found in small things, …. Nowadays you hear a lot about burn-outs and bore-outs, but [Antonny] has a very cheap solution for that: marbles. He gives more details in Ladies and Gentlemen.
Marbles in the Cabbage Patch
“After I found a marble in my vegetable garden, I started talking about it in my café,” Anthony starts, “We wondered if there was a marble club in Belgium and some customers found out that wasn’t the case. There was a club in the Netherlands. I was allowed to visit and as the first Belgian, together with my daughters, we were allowed to participate in the Dutch championship of dimple marbles. It was a fantastic experience and that led to the start of our own marble club in Wervik.”[4]
More about this curious game of dimple marbles in just a bit.
Christiaan Therry explained that there is currently no marble culture in Belgium and that children there no longer play marbles. And, as you would expect in such an environment, there are few marble collectors.[5]
He continues: “I think I am the only one who makes the collection visible for everyone. I was several times in a news paper.. I was twice on TV.”
But, Christiaan closes, this was not always the case in Belgium because “In the 70ties … we had several marble clubs in the region of Bruges.[6] The clubs participated also to the world championships in Tinsley Green London.” Of course, he is referring to the The British and World Marbles Championship held in Crawley England now for 91 years now.
Stef Dehollander & the “knikker-billetjes”
The word knikker-billejes is probably a pun with the delicacy “kikker-billejes” or frog legs. In colloquial French, the word “bille” also means “marble”.
Delhollander wrote a booklet in 1983 which Wendy Leyn refers to simply as “knikker-bipjes” [it is a booklet About marbles Rules and Games in the Past and Present]. On page 12 of this booklet Delhollander writes that: “in 1975 a marble tournament was … held in Bruges. As a result, several marble [clubs] were founded….”
The 1970s Belgian marble clubs, also mentioned by Christiaan, above, included the Bolleketters[7] and the Tonnekesbutters in Bruges, the Rembrandt’s marbles in Oedelem, the Independents in Lombarsijde…. Willy Mitchell from Bruges founded the Belgian marble federation and organized a first national championship in 1976. From then on, a Belgian team participated in the world championship every year. In 1978 and 1980, the Belgians became world champions in Crawley.”
Dimples
The Belgian Clubs in the 1970s played a variety of marble games, but the “official” game was the classic Dimples. The Prince of Marbles, whom we mentioned above, writes that the game was introduced from France to the Netherlands via Belgium.
Unlike American and British marbles, Dimples is played on a rectangular ground with a hole. The rules are those adopted by the [Netherlands] National Marble Championships.
We like the name Dimples. But the classic game is also called “marble in the potty”, “dimple shooting”, “filling the marble jar” or “puggy”.[8]
Where’s the Photo?
Since we first started research for this paper we have looked for a modern photograph of adults or children playing Dimple marbles. We asked the members of the new Wervik club with no success. We also emailed Meemoo, the Flemish Institute for Archives and the Museum of Daily Life, both in Ghent. Again, no photographs on offer.
But how could there be? Since kids don’t play marbles in Belgium anymore, and since there is no present marble culture, and few collectors, how could there be pictures of marble players?
We have been assured that when the Wervik club and, hopefully others, get started in Zandvoorde then we will be sent photos!
Rules of Dimples Rediscovered
Okay. There is a history of marbles in Belgium called Dimples, but it is dormant and just now being rediscovered. How is the game played?
The Prince of Marbles writes in “15 Marble Games to (Re)discover!”[9]:
“The Hole (or The Pit) The great classic of marble games, from France to the Netherlands via Belgium, is played on a rectangular ground with a hole [dimple; also called a well]. The rules are those adopted by the National Marble Championships.[10] The game: The playing field measures approximately 1.5m by 3m [4 feet and 11.0551 inches X 9 feet and 10.1102 inches] with a hole located approximately 2/3 of its length. You need to draw a throwing line about 4 to 6m [13 feet and 1.4803 inches X 19 feet and 8.2205 inches] from the hole. Of course, your starting line depends on your level of experience!”
Say What?
Really? There is no way we could possibly throw a glass or clay marble up to 20 feet and have it land in a hole! This sounds like an inexpensive game of golf to us!
And another thing. What about play on the kitchen floor, on tile or cobblestones?
Evidentially, this is covered, too. The Material Organization Scouts and Guides Flanders explain: “Terrain: Depending on the skill of the players and the difficulty of the game, the terrain can vary from a smooth tiled floor to a sandy bottom with a few puddles of water here and there.”[11]
Ok. We really do need a picture of Dimples in action as soon as one is available! But the fact is that there are rules for play and there must be provisions for when a hole is impossible. While we could never pitch a marble 20 feet and land it in a hole we shudder to think about a circle instead of a hole!
The Marble Prince
Now back to the rules of the game. The number of marbles played is determined in advance.
At national championships, it is usually 5 balls with a diameter of 16mm [⅝”]. Each player throws a ball towards the hole to determine who goes first. The one whose marble is closest to the hole, without having fallen into it, starts the game.
Players then take turns trying to roll their ball into the hole. If you succeed, you have the right to play again. A new marble is always played from the throwing line while the marbles already present on the ground are from the place where they are.”
Ok. As everyone makes one toss to determine who plays first and then we all get to roll our marbles toward the hole? This sounds more “doable”.
A ball went out of play? It must be returned to its starting point. The first to roll all these marbles into the hole is the winner. He wins all the marbles on the field! It is obviously very tempting to win the marbles of the opponents but you can of course consider other prizes: a mammoth marble or a small jewel of a handmade marble should be all the rage”
Wow, the prize sounds wonderful! An art marble, a “small jewel”?
The Marble Prince goes on to explain Dimples and fourteen more marble games in detail.
Their Past Is Their Future
It is apparent after a detailed study that there is a rich marble history of both marbles and marble play in Belgium as well as nearby France, the Netherlands, and Germany. There is at least one marble dealer online ready to supply marbles of a wide variety. And there is a framework of rules of play on hand. Finally there is a model of Championship play in the Netherlands.
All the”rebirthing” Wervik marble club, and, hopefully, soon many others, needs is the initiative and hard work required to rediscover the art of marbles and the skill of play.
As Wendy Leyn said in an email “…Who knows, maybe the future world champion lives in Zandvoorde (Zonnebeke)?”
Special Thanks
Wendy Leyn was gracious, knowledgeable, and helpful in developing this post. He especially helped us understand the nuances of language translations.
References
- With a little help from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zandvoorde,_Zonnebeke (7/15/2023). Check it out if you want to see a photograph of the area & a map. We did follow-up with this reader. ↑
- To read an “inside scoop” about the situation at the Club see: https://belgianproject.cc/2020/06/27/the-belgian-project-supporters-club-and-day-pub-tlusterke-wervik-bel-in-danger-of-closure-due-to-current-rules-and-regulations-it-would-be-a-loss-for-our-graduates-and-local-fans/ 7/19/2023 ↑
- https://www.industrialheritagetourism.com/itineraries/belgium/five-days-itinerary/wervik 7/11/2023 ↑
- https://www.focus-wtv.be/programma/les-boules-d%E2%80%99or-van-anthony-verschaeve?fbclid=IwAR3BgbBMQNLZM5Av4YtRsSvYGUd7Y0n6Ho0Tfd2cMtttqL8j2jGaPQKj1E 7/7/2023 ↑
- It seems a bit strange to us as we consider marbles & marble play in West Flanders that there is a “Marble Prince” (Knikkerprins )online in Belgium. Check him out @ https://www.knikkerprins.com/ (7/18/2023). When we visited the Marble Prince site we thought about Peter R. Caparelli who lived in Bayside, NY, & who built & maintained the online site Land of Marbles. You can read about some of the fun we had with Pete in our story “Shipwreck Marbles: Found from Wreckage” @ https://thesecretlifeofmarbles.com/shipwreck-marbles/ 7/18/2023.↑
- While we have never visited Bruges, it sounds dreamy on the Lonely Planet: “If you set out to design a fairy-tale medieval town, it would be hard to improve on central Bruges (Brugge in Dutch), one of Europe’s best preserved cities. Picturesque cobbled lanes and dreamy canals link photogenic market squares lined with soaring towers, historical churches and lane after lane of old whitewashed almshouses.” @ https://www.lonelyplanet.com/belgium/flanders/bruges 7/18/2023 ↑
- We wonder if this marble Club was really called Bolleketten which means Ball Chains? ↑
- In our story Playing Marbles As Shown on Dutch Tiles https://thesecretlifeofmarbles.com/playing-marbles-as-shown-on-dutch-tiles/ (7/20/2023) we note that the Dutch played Dimples as early as 1660! ↑
- Posted on October 1, 2021 By Tim @ https://www.princedesbilles.com/blogs/blog/15-jeux-de-billes-a-redecouvrir/ 7/7/2023 ↑
- We are not positive which Championships the Marble Prince is referring to. We don’t play dimples in the United States at the National Marble Tournament in Wildwood, NJ. Is he referring to Crawley & The British and World Marbles Championship in Crawley? Or, perhaps, the Dutch Championships which Antonny Verschaeve participated in. We are fairly certain he is referring to the Dutch Championship.↑
- https://www.spelensite.be/spel/knikkeren 7/7/2023 ↑
