Codex
The songs are compiled in what the students refer to as the codex, which contains the club anthems of most student organisations and hundreds of songs in various languages, such as Dutch, French, English, German, Latin and Afrikaans. They usually have easy and familiar melodies. Nearly all of the songs predate World War II and refer to either drinking, the student's (love) life or the history and past of the home country, city or region. For this reason, some songs are typically sung more by students of one city or another, e.g. students from Ghent will not sing songs about Leuven and vice versa, or they will simply replace instances of one city with another. Also due to the old nature of the songs, some of them have in the past years been controversial because they are seen by politically correct people as sexist, right-wing or downright racist.
In Antwerp, Ghent, Hasselt, Leuven and Aalst the codex used is that published by the KVHV (Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond or Catholic Flemish Students Union). In Brussels, the Flemish codex is published jointly by Polytechnische Kring and Brussels Senioren Konvent.
The French-speaking students from Brussels use the Carpe Diem published by the Guilde Polytechnique or Les Fleurs du Mâle published by the Union des Anciens Etudiants de l'ULB. Those who are from Catholics high-schools and universities of Brussels and Wallonia mostly choose Le Bitu Magnifique published by the Academicus Sanctae Barbae Ordo.
The biggest Belgian codex is the Florex published by the Corporatio Brabantia Bruxelliensis, both in French and Dutch, with more than 2300 pages divided into two parts.
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