Nostalgic Christmas music and horn blowing

On midwinter, the shortest day of the year, folklore group Dikkemik will again hold its annual Brabant Christmas celebration in the Kouwenbergs church in Aarle-Rixtel. It will be a cosy and atmospheric singing together of old familiar Christmas carols, the recitation of Brabant Christmas stories and a special performance by a vocal music ensemble. 

Immediately before this, the midwinter horns will be blown on the kiosk. After the Christmas celebration, mulled wine and Christmas bread will be served. Dikkemik practices the horn only as a midwinter horn during Advent. The name advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning 'coming'. By blowing the midwinter horn on this shortest day, they welcome 'the new light' and all winter demons are scared away. In fact, the sinister midwinter horn sounds mimic winter storms. This tradition is very old. Germanic ancestors already knew this custom. Later, the midwinter festival was adopted by the Christians, celebrating the coming of the Christ child. The midwinter horn was the same horn that people used as a signal horn in case of danger, fire, etc. Guild brothers and community members also used the signal horn to use it to call the guild brothers to come to the church tower in case of fire, disaster and other threats.