Dinant, Belgium's Bobbling Bathtubs
When heading to Dinant, Belgium, discard every bit of packing advice you've ever encountered. Pack everything including the... bathtub! Dinant, a city in west-central Belgium (a little more than an hour southeast of Brussels) is famed for its international Regate des Baignoires, or Bathtub Regatta. Positively quirky and delightfully unconventional, Regate des Baignoires floats, bobbles and lurches down the Muese River each year in mid-August.
Bathtub design and decoration get pretty offbeat, but there's one inviolable rule: somewhere under it all, there must be a bathtub. Paddle power approved, motors verboten. Festival goers should dress for a drenching as the impulse to bail seems to overcome the exuberant sailors who have to toss the water somewhere. Obtain up-to-date Regate scheduling from the tourist office at telephone 32 (0) 82 22 2129 or 32 (0) 82 22 31 87; or email Dinant's tourist office at info@dinant-tourisme.be.
Dragon-Slaying in Mons
In this town 45 minutes southwest of Brussels, citizens continue to thank their deity for sparing them bubonic plague in the mid-1300s. Their thanks consists of a combined morning religious procession and afternoon reenactment of the 4th century legend of St. George slaying a dragon. The festival is styled Procession of the Golden Chariot and Battle of the Lumecon.
The dragon-slaying is designed to prevent the sacrifice of a Mediterranean king's daughter, the scheduled entrée on the dragon's dinner plate. The paladin St. George rides into town accompanied by his Chinchins (protectors) to vanquish the dragon along with the dragon's escort of demons and savages. As the dragon whacks fairgoers with its tail, they tear at ribbons and tail hair. Those who prevail in clutching a dragon hair or ribbon are rewarded with good luck.
Battle of the Lumecon is not a fair fight but a rigged one to ensure that good always prevails over evil; thus, after three tail lashes at the Chinchins, the dragon succumbs to St. George. The morning procession starts at Collegiate Church of Saint Waudru and lasts two hours, while the battle follows on the town square. The Mons tourist office, tel. 011-32 65 33 55-80, can provide exact scheduling details.
Zeebrugges' Sixty-Foot Tall Sand Sculptures
Intrigued by sand castles? Sharpen your castle molding skills by observing scores of internationally recognized sand-architects at work during the Sand Sculpture Festival in Zeebrugge, 8 miles outside Brugges. Event organizers truck in tons of sculpture sand and esteemed artists spend a fortnight turning their enchantments on it until it sprouts theme art up to sixty feet tall. The Festival entrances beachgoers with scintillating light and reverberating sound complementing the annual sculpture theme. The building process takes place during the last two weeks of July with the Festival continuing through early September.
A segregated play area for children allows them to transform mounds of sculpture sand into their own majestic towers and moats. The Festival charges admission, and is segregated from the remainder of the beach. No return is permitted upon leaving.
Giants Overtake Brussels
Travelers to Brussels can experience centuries of acculturation in a single day by attending one or more of its spectacular folkloric festivals. Brussels becomes Ommegang each year for two days in July. In the spirited parade, Les Géants (Giants) march alongside water birds, nobles, and pages. Complementary spectacles dot the perimeter. Drawing the best in street and stage performers, the festival offers an eclectic assortment of vibrant entertainment: clowns, acrobats, stilt walkers, military brass band and bagpipes contingent, horse and carriage procession, even a troupe of science fiction monsters. A relatively recent addition to the festivities is the Roller Parade, a combination of show and participatory sport. Skates can be rented on site by those who impulsively decide to join in the fun. The excitement continues into the evening with a dramatic fireworks display.
The Giants loom large in Brussels folklore. Towering over every major festival, these 7 oversize figures constitute a family. The oldest, Mieke and Janneke, are believed to have débuted in the late 1700s to early 1800s. Their parents Boma and Bompa joined them soon after. The grandchildren Roseke and Jefke are post-WWII baby boomers. Finally in 1982, little Pietje arrived. In 2001, a smaller size giant, Polleke, was created to entertain children, as a posthumous tribute to the founder of the Meyboom brass band. The body of each Giant is a huge open basket frame covered in fabric, and the head is made of papier maché. Each Giant dances in its customary position in the parade, carried by a "poepedroeger" who marches unseen underneath the Giant, swinging its arms and nodding its head in time with the music.
Les Joyeux Turlurons (the Merry Turlurons) began dancing alongside the Giants in 1991. These Tintin effigies differ from the Giants in that the carriers' legs are showing and comprise part of the character.
Planting the Meyboom
Meyboom, Brussels' second major summer festival, dates to 1213. In that year, the Brussels bourgeois quarreled with the Louvans concerning a beer tax. For their bravery in standing up to the Louvans, the bourgeois won from the nobility the privilege of planting the meyboom (a tree) on the eve of the feast of their town's patron saint, St. Lawrence. This privilege was conditioned upon the planting being completed by 5 o'clock, with the consequence of noncompliance the transfer of the privilege to the Louvans.
To this day, merrymakers gather in the Bois de la Cambre in the midafternoon to prepare for the meyboom tree planting ceremony. A preselected ash tree is cut amid fanfare and revelry and paraded through town accompanied by Giants, Merry Turlurons and a brass band. Rivals coveting the meyboom planting privileges have surreptitiously tried to disrupt the Meyboom procession to no avail, with the same prankish enthusiasm that spurs the West Point Army Cadets' annual quest to capture the United States Naval Academy's goat mascot.
Ghent Goes Medieval
For the perpetually undecided, Ghent, 35 miles northeast of Brussels, hosts a combination of four festivals rolled into its traditional medieval fair. Gentsefeesten evolved from a medieval fair scheduled to coincide with a national holiday commemorating King Leopold's ascension to the throne. This celebration brings forth a town crier, folk dance troupes, mimes, circus performers, jugglers, and puppets. Bands and cabaret dancers take to the stages, while the streets are crammed with markets. Fireworks light the nighttime sky. At the Day of Empty Purses, anyone making a purchase is given an empty purse. Two lucky empty purse holders will meet up with the mayor who will switch his money-filled purses for their empty ones.
Serious music fans will want to check the mainstream and avant-garde jazz schedule at Blue Note Records Festival or the indoor electronic music of genres including electro, break beats, rock, hip hop, disco, techno and more at 10 Days Off. The International Puppet Buskers Festival brings the best puppet performances to the city while the International Street Theatre Festival imports spectacular street theatre routines. There are both free and paid performances throughout the city.
Gentsefeesten incorporates two parades: the Ghent Festivities parade, with traditional floats and Giants, and the Procession of the Guild of the Noose Wearers and the Emperor Charles V Foundation. The latter parade reenacts the parading of barefoot convicts with nooses circling their necks in the sixteenth century.
Unique Museums Complement Belgium's Summer Festivals
For those still caught by Belgium's summer festival bug, there are two not-to-miss museums touting festival themes in Belgium. At La Maison des Géants, rue de Pintamont, 7800 ATH, Tel. 32 0 68 26 51 70, visitors can mingle with Giants and even a Dragon, while learning oodles about Belgium's festival traditions.
Le Musée International du Carnaval et du Masque, 10 rue Saint-Moustier, BINCHE, Tel. 32 064 3357 41, explores the carnival traditions of Europe and the intrigue of masks as expressed across 5 continents.
Festivals practically define Belgium in the summertime, so make sure to include at least one in your vacation plans. You won't be sorry.
No comments:
Post a Comment