Guest writer: Anna Nilsson Spets
The big event of the autumn in Belgium, or at least the most expensive, was the Pope's visit to the country. It was over in a couple of days and included four minutes of dialogue with sexually abused victims within the Catholic Church. Four minutes ...
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The Pope landed in pouring rain and gusting winds that caught his robe draped neatly over his holiness's head à la ghost, it was a bit of fun anyway.
Autumn has arrived and with it all the Catholic and less Catholic holidays. All Saints Day is very big here, the graves are to be decorated with large cut flower arrangements, the bigger the better. As the icing on the cake, a large ball chrysanthemum. Candles are also lit, votive candles that can be fiery red with an image of the Virgin Mary.
Families flock to the cemetery in droves, but I prefer the simpler Swedish version with lit lanterns and simple spruce wreaths.
In mid-November, Sinterklaas and his entourage arrive in Belgium, arriving in Antwerp by steamer with great pomp and circumstance.
Sinterklaas is originally a saint who is celebrated on the morning of 6 December. The night before, the children put out their shoes, put a drawing in them and a carrot or sugar cube for Sinterklaas' horse, which is white. The horse, that is.
Sinterklaas has a helper, Zwarte Piet, a dark-skinned servant with Moorish roots. Children who have been good get a present, less well-behaved children get a taste of Zwarte Piet's stick and are put in a sack and taken back to ... well, North Africa?
The constant question is how long Zwarte Piet can be black, discussions have been going on for years and some municipalities stick with a light-skinned Piet. Even the now commercial Sinterklaas, who used to have a cross on his colourful mitre, has become uncrossed.
Advent, nope, in Belgian windows there are no candlesticks or stars and even the table candlestick is (figuratively) absent.
December is also the time for all the Christmas markets, crafts are not a big deal, if you want a straw bale or a beautiful hand-tied door wreath, you probably have to go to Sweden.
The market stalls are mostly food and drink stalls, where you can enjoy a jenever or two or three in the company of good friends.
Every town has a full-scale nativity scene, often with a bored (live) donkey and a couple of sleepy sheep. Or an exhibition of different varieties of nativity scenes, as in the picture.
XXL Christmas markets can be found in the big cities, it's all in with bric-a-brac and carousels. If you go to the Ardennes, however, there are a couple of really cosy markets that are worth visiting, if only to eat fresh oysters and roasted chestnuts.
Belgium's answer to gingerbread is called speculaas and is actually eaten all year round but takes on a more Christmassy form this time of year. Making homemade sweets, hmm nooo, we live in chocolate land and add marzipan to Christmas.
Lucia is not a famous person, however, it is a morning I start in front of the computer and with a tear in my eye and a cup of coffee I watch Swedish lusse celebrations. The bridesmaid in the picture is 39 years old today.
Christmas Eve is a normal day and people wait for Christmas Day with family gatherings, Santa Claus and lots of food and drink, maybe going to midnight mass.
The Christmas ham and the Christmas table are conspicuous by their absence unless you go to a well-known Swedish furniture company and eat a Christmas plate there. The ham in the picture is wandering around in Senegal.
I've never been able to work out what the Belgians put on the Christmas table, but I'm betting on stuffed turkey. At home we have a good cheese platter on Christmas Eve, maybe Sally can offer some wine tips?
A WHITE Christmas can be forgotten, it happens sometimes, but at 2 cm of snow the country is almost in a state of emergency.
In our old house we have no heating upstairs, I resort to old methods.
My Christmas ... The Belgians who love to decorate think I'm crazy to refuse Christmas, but I've been doing it for 30 years. If you work in the flower business, as I have done most of my life, you get pretty tired of Christmas.
I have NOTHING more Christmassy on display than a weird red lump of plaster that the now 37-year-old creator made in kindergarten. We still wonder what it is. And I have my mum and dad's old candlestick out, it's a must.
Yes, I'll sneak in if I'm in Sweden, here at home NO WAY.
Thanks to Andy, Linda and Kristel for the loan of photos.
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Only British says:
Oh that was the cutest little bridesmaid!
The Christmas market in Brussels is a bit of fun because there are things from all over Europe (although there is a lot of alcohol there too with various Nordic mulled wine, orange punch from Austria and other things. They also sometimes have a beautiful carousel in Belgian surrealism. A mass is a made of metal and the children can ride in a chameleon or up on Pegasus. There are live sheep etc. in the Grand Place, although you always giggle a bit at the fire extinguisher in the manger.
31 October 2024 - 9:19
Anna Nilsson Spets says:
The cutest little tern is Emma, 39 years old today.
Yes, I know there is a nice Christmas market in Brussels, but have not been there yet. I have been to Antwerp and a couple in the Ardennes. Thanks for reading.
31 October 2024 - 19:02
BP says:
So that red lump of plaster is clearly a sack full of Christmas presents. Without the slightest doubt.
Having lived in Munich for seven years, I can say that the Belgian and German Christmas/Advent habits are very similar. The same is also true for Austria and Switzerland.
Nor do I remember there being any special Christmas food, certainly not on Christmas Eve. The big Christmas celebration day was Christmas Eve, not like for example in England, where Christmas Day is celebrated with and then definitely with turkey.
It's quite fun with different traditions. Just like you, I don't celebrate Christmas either, but "load up" with gubbröra, beetroot salad and Christmas ham. Bought at the local deli, not homemade; -)
31 October 2024 - 15:49
Anna Nilsson Spets says:
That's what we think of as a sack. It can't be anything else.
Yes, as I said, this is Christmas Day, I have always asked what people eat but never got a grip on it. For New Year, there is a lot of fondue.
31 October 2024 - 19:06