[3] The parade commemorates an Ypres tradition from the Middle Ages in which cats were allegedly thrown from the belfry tower of the Cloth Hall to the town square below.

[4] Another story suggests that the cats were brought into the Cloth Hall (Lakenhallen) to control vermin.

Before modern heating and storage methods, when it got cold the wool was stored in the upper floors of the Cloth Hall.

At the start of the spring warm-up, after the wool had been sold, the cats were tossed out of the bell tower.

[5] Symbolically reviving this practice for the parade festivities, a jester tosses plush children's-toy cats from the Cloth Hall belfry down to the crowd, which awaits with outstretched arms to catch one.