Report written by Jos Beerstecher, WIMA Netherlands.
A rally with typical Dutch weather at a beautiful location in the heart of Twente, with the theme ‘Witte Wiev’n’ (the spirits of wise women in Dutch Low Saxon mythology dating back to pre-Christian times).
The programme is interspersed with the theme and the hall is decorated with women dressed in white, flying around on broomsticks. On Sunday, 1st of August, some guests are already trickling in, and by the 2nd, there are more than 200 WIMAs on site. As tradition dictates, the event opens with a welcome speech and dinner, followed by a disco.
On Tuesday, it’s the gymkhana and because the weather is a bit changeable, there are also games inside. The most eye- catching game is completing a course with clogs tied together, a leg breaker if you lose your balance. The prize-giving takes place in the evening.
On Wednesday there is a rally ride with a quiz. It is pouring with rain, which is a reason for many women to either not go, or to go into a pub after about 30 km and stay there for the rest of the day. Still, about 100 participants managed the entire ride and found the answers to the quiz questions. At five o’clock, only a handful of women have returned; by six o’clock one after the other, the WIMA women come dripping into the office to hand in sometimes completely sodden quiz forms. Perhaps the ride was a bit too long… The suffering is soon over when you can dance in the evening to the music played by DJ Vette Tante.
The weather on Thursday is good, fortunately, with blue sky and white clouds – a beautiful day for the parade. Under police escort, we drive to Ruurlo to look for the white woman in the maze of straw bales. The WIMAs can then practise archery and eat pancakes there. In the evening, the girl band pEp plays, and you can dance again until the late hours.
The Farewell dinner is on Friday evening. The caterer has done his best with, among other things, a mermaid, who is draped prominently on the table. This is followed by a performance evening and the voting for the most beautiful, white-dressed female of the week. How creative everyone has been! The German ladies perform a modern version of the legend of the witte wiev’n from the programme booklet, even riding a motorcycle onto the stage. The Swedish women sing a song in white with candles on their heads. There’s a collaboration between Curaçao, Germany and the Netherlands, who perform a play together. It is true that the story is no longer completely clear, but what sticks in the mind is that a toilet brush is one of the attributes with which the hall is blessed. Also, the sentence ‘Ich bin der schöne Prinz’ and the image of Louis occasionally appearing from behind a sheet, and only saying that one sentence, is still sharp on the retina. Rock solid through the power of repetition. Other German WIMAs have made beautiful masks with plaster and bandages.
The one woman show that eventually wins in the solo category is hilarious. I forget the name of the winner, but she manages to make the audience giggle in a dress, only with a wig, a clown nose and a whistle. Awesome! That same evening, Rita Koopmanschap appears to be accompanied in her tent by three ‘witte wiev’n’ who have been taken from the hall; it takes a while before she can crawl into her sleeping bag.
And then it’s over. Saturday the 7th, we wave goodbye in the hope of meeting again the following year.
