Leidens Ontzet 2026: Leiden’s 3 October celebration

Leidens Ontzet is Leiden’s yearly celebration of the day the city was freed from a Spanish siege in 1574. The 2026 edition falls on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 October, and it is run, as it has been for generations, by the 3 October Vereeniging. Most of it happens in the old city centre, and the organiser states that most activities are free and open to everyone.

The running order is set by tradition rather than by a headline booking. 2 October brings a communal hutspot meal and, in the evening, the taptoe, a procession through the city centre. The 3 October programme starts at seven in the morning with a reveille, works through the herring and white bread handout and the singing at the Van der Werfpark, then builds to the grand parade in the afternoon and fireworks late at night.

What happens on 2 October

The hutspotmaaltijd is held on 2 October. Hutspot is the mashed dish of potato, carrot and onion that Leiden ties to the siege, and the meal is one of the things the 3 October Vereeniging lists as a benefit of membership.

The Grote Taptoe runs from 19:30 to 21:30. It sets off from the Kaasmarkt and moves through Pelikaanstraat, Haarlemmerstraat, Prinsessekade, Kort Rapenburg, Breestraat, Steenschuur, the Van der Werfpark, Doezastraat, Jan van Houtkade and Geregracht, finishing at the Jan van Houtmonument. Since it is a moving procession, the route itself is the venue rather than any single square.

The funfair, which the organiser calls the lunapark, opens on 2 October from 13:30 until 02:00. It is spread over four sites: the Lammermarkt, the Beestenmarkt, the Binnenvestgracht and the Schuttersveld. Music carries on at the Garenmarktplein, where the programme item Swingend naar 3 oktober runs from 20:00 to 02:00.

What happens on 3 October

The main day has a fixed sequence of set pieces:

• 07:00, reveille at the Stadhuisplein
• From 07:30, the free handout of herring and white bread at the historic Waag
• 08:00, koraalzang at the Van der Werfpark
• 10:00 to 11:00, the memorial service
• 13:00 to 16:00, the Grote Optocht along its route through the city
• 23:30, fireworks by the Zijlpoort

The funfair is open again on 3 October, this time from 09:00 to 01:00, across the same four sites. For the parade, the organiser’s own advice to spectators is simply to arrive in good time and find a spot along the route. The 3 October Vereeniging describes the fireworks in its English information as a pyromusical finale.

Cost and membership

Most of the programme costs nothing. The herring and white bread on the morning of 3 October is free, and the association’s English page states plainly that most activities are free and open to everyone.

Membership of the 3 October Vereeniging costs 9 euros a year. According to the organiser, that includes the festival guide and access to the hutspot meal.

Why Leiden marks the third of October

Leiden spent eleven months encircled by Spanish forces. The siege was broken on 3 October 1574, when the Geuzen reached the starving city carrying herring and white bread. Those two foods are still handed out on the anniversary, which is why herring and white bread go out at the Waag on the Saturday morning.

Hutspot has its own origin story. The 3 October Vereeniging recounts that a young man found a kettle of hutspot in an abandoned Spanish redoubt. Whether or not the detail holds up, the dish became the food of the commemoration.

The relief also fed directly into Leiden’s academic history. The association notes that the city commander and city secretary who came out of the Ontzet went on to set up the university.

The 2026 edition

The theme for 2026 is Horen, zien en proeven, meaning hear, see and taste. Marieke de Kok, chair of the parade and taptoe commission, frames it as experiencing Leidens Ontzet with all your senses.

2026 is also the 140th year of the 3 October Vereeniging, which was founded in 1886 at the Stadsgehoorzaal. To mark the anniversary, a commemorative plaque carrying tile work by the Leiden artists Katja Vajserman and Tinka Kovacic was unveiled on the Breestraat side of the Stadsgehoorzaal on 6 June 2026, during the 200% Leids celebration.

Two dates sit in the run-up to the festival itself. MaxiKoraal, an evening of communal singing on the Garenmarktplein, takes place on 29 September 2026 from 19:30 to 23:00. The association also operates a 3 October Servicepunt at Pieterskerkgracht 20a, open from 29 August to 30 September 2026, which was launched with a public opening on 29 August from 09:45 to 11:00.

Common questions

Do I need to buy a ticket?

For the street programme, no. The organiser states that most activities are free and open to everyone. The hutspot meal is listed as a benefit of membership.

Which day is the bigger one?

Both days carry weight, but they do different things. 2 October holds the hutspot meal, the taptoe and the evening music. 3 October holds the reveille, the herring and white bread, the koraalzang, the memorial service, the grand parade and the fireworks.

Where do I get the free herring and white bread?

At the historic Waag, from 07:30 on the morning of 3 October.

What time is the parade?

The Grote Optocht runs from 13:00 to 16:00 on 3 October, along a route through the city rather than from a single fixed location.

When are the fireworks?

At 23:30 on 3 October, by the Zijlpoort.

How long has this been going on?

The relief itself was in 1574 and has been marked since. The 3 October Vereeniging, which organises the modern festival, reaches 140 years in 2026.