The Chapel of the Farmers' Union: Rural Piety

In 1895, five years after the foundation of the Boerenbond in Leuven, Betekom already had its Farmers' Guild. Two years later it had 360 members. It is therefore not surprising that the Farmers' Union would flourish here.
In the early years, the activities of the Farmers' Union were geared to the task of women in agriculture. Lessons were given on animal husbandry, dairy and horticulture, cooking and sewing, raising the children, hygiene and caring for the sick. Even then, attention was paid to improving nutrition, to the care of infants and to a good education for girls in the countryside.
But she also agitated against the moral ills of the time: 'secularisation, frivolity and shamelessness'. In 1936, the 25th anniversary was celebrated by a massive establishment of field chapels in the Flemish countryside. Although not compulsory, preference was given to a modern design of a triangular pillar chapel, painted white and blue and with a small niche for the statue of the Virgin Mary.

Jan Rymenams