Yahoo reports.
Well, at least the Belgians aren't clamoring to take down the statue taken down (which is the incipient practice in the United States). What can they do when the thing is such a landmark? How many tourists assemble at the foot of this little boy every day?
Manneken Pis (About this sound[ˌmɑnəkə(m) ˈpɪs], meaning "Little Pisser" in Dutch) is a landmark 61 cm (24 in) bronze sculpture in the centre of Brussels (Belgium), depicting a naked little boy urinating into a fountain's basin. It was designed by Hiëronymus Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1618 or 1619. The current statue is a replica which dates from 1965. The original is kept in the Museum of the City of Brussels.[ Manneken Pis is the best-known symbol of the people of Brussels. It also embodies their sense of humour (called zwanze in the dialect of Brussels) and their independence of mind.At that last link (to Wikipedia), there are several photos on the Mannekin Pis in costumes (and the explanation that the statue is dressed in costumes several times a week). I'll just pick one, the Dracula:
By the way, the Belgians have installed a female version of the Manneken Pis, the Jeanneke Pis, erected in 1987. Also in Belgium, Het Zinneke (Zinneke = bastard), a statue of a dog urinating. Why Belgians want to be associated with pissing, I'm not so sure. I guess once one thing is very famous, other things will refer to it. Or maybe I just need to understand more about zwanze:
Not easily defined, zwanze is characterised by mockery, self-deprecation, a wariness of power and an incredulous response to all types of authority, which on occasion is too forgiving of official blunders.
"Zwanze is a bit like gueuze (a Belgian beer) and grenadine,” remarks [the author Alain] Berenboom. “It is a combination of bitter beer and sweet syrup, two apparently incompatible products Belgians like to mix to make a drink called Mort subite [Sudden death], which is only fatal for cranky people... "
Posts
34 comments:
There's a Belgian waffle shop across the street that's worth visiting. The statue not so much.
That will teach Michael a lesson!
I don't know. Seems like Michael Jackson would be - based on the description - a pretty good metaphor for zwanze. A man-child on one hand, a keeper of catamites on the other. Seems zwanze to me that Belgians are boundary-pushers but not seemingly in this case. I guess maybe they had second thoughts after making a statue of a woman pissing...
The joke doesn't work for the female version.
It’s not about not molesting children.
It’s about how anti-molesting children you can represent yourself as being.
Clearly the Belgians lose to whatever country didn’t even consider marking the anniversary.
Like Mozambique.
I think I rather have the statue taken down than a committee change the original art by adding on crap.
He is dressed about 130 times a year in various outfits often donated by organisations or embassies to mark a special occasion or event...
Given that it's Brussels, wouldn't the logical "Little Pisser" be Brexit or Trump?
What kind of world would this be without new documentaries being produced about dead people to recast their lives for those who never experienced the events in question?
It’s so much easier to virtue signal about someone else’s history.
In the future, everyone will be universally condemned for 15 minutes.
Calvin hardest hit.
Brussels looks like Beruit Lebanon. Street vendors, trash, women in burkahs.
Two weeks after we left, the big terrorist attack.
I did see a field of Brussels sprouts, though,.
"Zwanze": cool new word, i like how africanesque it is, shows how those belgians sure are worldly and sophisticated.
"characterised by . . . a wariness of power and an incredulous response to all types of authority"
Funny because not only does Belgium welcome the European Union "authority", its national structure is surely one of the most elaborate governmental organizations you can get. wikipedia has charts to elaborate: "Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds."
in Zwanze-land, you'd think they'd love the yellow vest folks, no?
In middle America we dress up goose statues.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/06/21/uc-santa-cruz-removes-el-camino-real-mission-bell/
When the Muslims fully takeover Belgium all those pissing statues are finished. Islam doesn’t get that kind of humor.
The Muslim ascendancy will probably keep it and place a statue of a woman where the pee lands. Waste not, want not.
I visited Brussels in 1985 and managed to stumble into the Arab section while looking for the Manneken-Pis fountain. It was as if I had entered a foreign country within a foreign country. There was a quiet hostility about the people around me. My friend and I retreated and eventually found the little fellow. I do have pictures.
Been there, done that. An early graphic novel--by a Belgian--has a woodcut image of a giant man pissing over a city. Little pisser stickers are all over pickup trucks and SUVs here.
Belgium has to have an elaborate structure because they have an elaborately divided history, culture, and population. It's a made-up country created to make more powerful countries feel safer; they ran a brutal imperial regime way over their abilities to manage (which they are paying for now); in a way it's Europe in microcosm.
It's also quite beautiful in spots. Fun fact: the Belgians were among the first to realize the possibilities of automobile tourism, and built a network of nice roads in the 20s and 30s so people could enjoy the history and scenery of the . . . Ardennes.
Narr
You win some, you lose some
I find it surprising that so many people have gone out of their way to see this statue. It's definitely not on my bucket list.... I've never formulated an opinion, one way or another, about the Belgians. So many here have formulated a negative opinion about Belgians. Audrey Hepburn was Belgian so they can't be all bad. We should try to be more tolerant of Belgians, who, after all, aren't actually French despite the rumors. ....The idea of dressing a little boy with an exposed penis up as Michael Jackson is in such bad taste that it borders on genius. Is there any way to dress up the little pisser so that he looks like Harvey Weinstein, Anthony Weiner, or Louis CK?
Madrid is not so cool.
The symbolic fountain-statue is, oddly enough, of the goddess Cybele, on a carriage drawn by lions, in front of the Madrid City Hall, which is worth a visit if you are ever there. A minor but pretty on the inside worth-a-look in a city full of them. Commonly referred to as the Palacio de las Cibeles.
I dont think anyone can say why Cybele, exactly. Its an odd choice all things considered. In any case, in the hispanosphere it is symbolic of Madrid. There must be tens of thousands of "Cibeles" cafes, restaurants, bakeries, hotels and who knows what all over the world.
Audrey Hepburns mother was Dutch, not Belgian. Her grandfather was a mayor of Arnhem (yes, that Arnhem, of "A Bridge too Far") and governor of Surinam.
Her father was an Englishman.
Boston needs one-- in greenface with black, pointy hat.
the "Wicked Pissah"
When the wife and I were there in 1978, we really liked Stella Artois beer.
Decades later I got one on draft at a bar here and couldn't finish it. Heavy, salty, I couldn't imagine why I had liked it over there.
Narr
Gotta run
The vampire is my favorite, then the saxophone one.
Isn't Belgium where they had that huge pedophile scandal with authority figures up the Wazoo, as it were, being nabbed? Never remember hearing what became of all that.
in front of the Madrid City Hall, which is worth a visit if you are ever there.
I was there in 2010 with my middle daughter who was attending a conference, held every ten years on Andalusian Spain. She was working on a PhD that she finally gave up on. She learned Arabic to read the documents. I would wait in the Plaza Mayor, lovely square with music for her to get out of her meeting. I did some videos of the city but they don't work anymore.
One of the few pieces of evidence of my father's WWII experience-- which he rarely spoke of-- was a bundle of postcards depicting this pissing statue. I discovered them in a closet when I was five or six-- 1962-ish. I wish I had held onto them.
@nichevo
the Wazoo-- is that like a Walloon ?
People often get Belgium and Holland mixed up because 1/2 of Belgium speak Dutch. Belgium is an artificial country that cobbled together the French Walloon's and the Dutch into a country in order to provide a buffer state. After WW 1, it should have been broken up and the French part given to France, and the Dutch part given to Holland. It would have greatly strengthened the French Defense in 1940.
But since we supposedly fought WW1 for "Poor little Belgium" that was impossible
Very few Belgium's immigrated to the USA, because they've always been a prosperous country. If boring. Brussels is a nice City, but there's nothing remarkable about it, compared to Paris, Rome, London, Berlin, or even Amsterdam.
"Belgium is an artificial country"
There is some truth in that in that it helped us survive as a country by keeping us out of the hands of the French. A very good thing as far as I'm concerned.
But we of the 'Benelux', or the 'Low Countries', do have a common history going back to the Duchy of Burgundy, to the Middle Ages and perhaps to Carolus Magnus and before. As for Wallonie going to France, I don't think the Walloons are all that enthusiastic. I'm certainly not enthusiastic for Flanders going to Holland even though I haven't much love for Belgium itself. So all in all, not that artificial.
As for the scandal, that was Dutroux in the 1990s. However, how does that compare to say 'grooming gang' Uk, 'La tournante' France or your very own USA?
My favorite local was Ghent. Gravensteen castle was lovely, and I would recommend Getsee Gruut for beer buffs. Real mayo on your frites too!
Let me be clear, I like Belgium and the Belgians were fine, friendly people when we were there. As PhilD details, and I think mentioned, it is like Europe itself a fragmented unity, a good enough compromise and nobody can seriously think treating the place like a latter day Poland with pieces parceled out is a good idea--especially the Belgians.
There was enough actual "Belgian" sentiment in 1830 to make it a reasonable idea. And it would have worked fine if the neighbors had behaved themselves.
It's true not many Belgians came to the US, and in culture it's a near-blank to Americans.
Manikin pis, Poirot, Cesar Franck maybe . . . They fought bravely in 1914-18 and were let down in 1940; Willy Coppens was a great WWI ace with 37(?) kills.
Narr
And they eat well!
Having chanced upon the less famous one in Prague, I wondered whether pissing statues were a Euro-thing.
Sure enough:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/peeing-statues
Brussel Spout.
Sorry, too easy.
Post a Comment