Pete Death

The St. Martin's Church of Strijtem is definitely worth a visit for the colorful statues of saints, the rather unique paper wallcovering with medallions and especially the beautiful stained glass windows.

But the most special thing is 'Pietje de Dood'

> High against the ceiling and looking over everything, Pete hangs Death, who mercilessly and patiently lets time tick to himself at the end of the life ride without exception.

> It is indeed a real skeleton that Father Cuylits hung there and it is also topped with a crown! This horrible sight is ultimately what the church of Strijtem brought in all the lists and books about the most remarkable places in Belgium.

> The skeleton does not just hang, there is also a mechanism attached to it so that the left hand drives the hands of the clock, while the right hand with a sphere gives a thump on 'the gong' every half hour. Pietje's head could turn from left to right. Cuylits apparently enjoyed chasing his parishioners. However, during the electrification of the church clock, Pietje de Dood fell out of work. Since then, the mechanism has been out of service and now that it has been there for 100 years, its bones have become too brittle to set it in motion again. > What everyone wonders is how Cuylits got this skeleton. The wildest story is that of the gendarme who expressed the desire to hang among the many skeletons that stand on the stained glass windows. "All right," said Father Cuylits, "we'll take care of that." Nonsense! It is more likely that Cuylits took the skeleton from his father's doctor's cabinet.

> As if the message were not clear enough, Cuylits had the following text written on a crossbar: 'Death is the punishment of sin' and on the round arch: 'Mensch, remember at the hour that strikes, the end will come sooner or later'.

est2000