Showing posts with label Belgium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belgium. Show all posts

July 11 - Guldensporenslag — Flemish National Day

    Posted on July 11, 2022     


This is an update of my post published on July 11, 2011:





The Flemish National Day commemorates a bloody battle fought in 1302 between a large, well-armed French army with a core of 2,500 noble cavalry (knights on horses), on the one hand, and on the other hand a large, well-armed group of Flemish peasants and townsfolk. (Actually, once the battle was going, the Flemish army was supplemented by some Flemish nobles—but the original battle was an uprising of “ordinary folk” against nobilty.) 

One reason this particular battle is celebrated is because the “ordinary folk” won! Apparently, a large cavalry force had been considered to be invincible, and military thought at the time dictated that each cavalryman (knight on a horse) was equal to ten infantryman (foot soldiers). This battle made everyone re-think military strategy.


The battle is called the Guldensporenslag, or Battle of the Golden Spurs, because Flemish soldiers gathered hundreds (or even thousands) of golden spurs from the French knights who were killed. The golden spurs were hung in a church as a kind of victory trophy.

Although today's world has no independent nation called Flanders, the Flemish live on in the Dutch-speaking portion of Belgium. This holiday is the is the official Flemish Celebration Day.



For more on the battle and the day, check out the colorful illustrations and information found here. 

One of my favorite spots in Flanders is Brugge, a picturesque city with walls and canals. I loved wandering the streets, taking a million photos, and eating Belgian fries hot off the street carts (they had a bunch of special sauces you can dip your fries into, which made it especially fun and delicious!).







To see more photos of Brugge, check out this travel blog.



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September 27 - French Community Holiday Belgium

 Posted on September 27, 2021


This post is an updated version of my post published on September 27, 2010:




This holiday is celebrated only by the French Community of Belgium. This is mostly made up of people living in the southern half of Belgium (an area known as Walloon Region) plus many living in bilingual Brussels. The people of this community are Belgian, not French, but they speak French as their primary language.


French speakers in Belgium tend to live in the south
or in bilingual Brussels, the capital city.


The date for the French Community Holiday commemorates an important battle in the Belgian Revolution—a battle of French-speaking Belgians against the Dutch army. Interestingly, the Flemish Community of Belgium has a parallel holiday (July 11) that commemorates a battle victory of Dutch-speaking Belgians against the French army!


(By the way, note that there is a third region of Belgium, the German-speaking Community. It is tiny. These three “communities” are official institutions with their own governments.)


Can you see why French, Dutch (spoken in the Netherlands)
and German are the language communities of Belgium?


On this the French Community Holiday, French Community schools are closed, and there are many free concerts plus plays and sporting events.







Did you know...?

  • Belgium is host of the European Union—in other words, most of the EU's institutions are located there. The headquarters of NATO are also located in Belgium.



  • Because both Dutch and French are quite closely related to English, and many Belgians from both language regions learn to speak English in schools, young Flemings and Walloons often chat with each other in English! That means that English is Belgium's lingua franca (a French term, adopted by the English language, that means “common language”)....

    The only time I've been to Belgium, way back in 2002, I stayed with a French-speaking family in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, near Antwerp. And back then  I ran into a lot of people who didn't seem to speak much English.


  • Belgium is 321 times smaller than the U.S., but it has the same population as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska COMBINED!

  • There are many castles in Belgium. Check out Bruno's website to see some.





Belgian Food Fun Facts


Belgium is known for chocolate. It produces about 600,000 tons of chocolate per year. According to my sources, the world's biggest chocolate seller is the airport in Brussels, Belgium, which sells more than 2 tons of chocolate per DAY!




Belgians claim to have invented the fried-potato treat that are called French fries by Americans and chips by Brits. I love the fresh, hot fries/chips sold out of street carts in Belgium—partly because of all the yummy sauces we could dip them into! (I think there were 30 or 40 sauces offered by a typical friterie.)




A few of the sauces included mayonnaise, curry, tartare, barbecue, Andalusian, "Samurai" (not Japanese, but Belgian - it contains harissa), sweet and savory pickle sauce, herb-y Hawaiian sauce, spicy Dallas sauce, and something called American sauce (Amerikaanse saus) that turned out to be catsup!


With such delicious fresh fries so easily available, it's no wonder that Belgians eat (on average) 165 pounds per year! 



Belgium is also known for its waffles and rice tarts and other bakery treats.



 



Also on this date:










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July 21 - Independence Day in Belgium

 Posted on July 21, 2021


This is an update of my post published on July 21, 2010:



This day commemorates the day in 1931 when Belgium was granted independence from the Netherlands.

Belgium is an unusual country because it quite small―a little bit smaller than the state of Maryland―but it has two distinct languages and peoples. In the north, called Flanders, live Flemish people who speak Dutch (a Germanic language). In the south, called Wallonia, live Walloons, who speak French (a Latin language).


When we went to Belgium, we felt a bit confused. We flew into Brussels (the capital city), which is mostly French speaking, but which lies in the Dutch-speaking Flanders. We drove to a small town in the Dutch-speaking region and stayed with a French-speaking family. When we went to visit various towns and sights, there were quite likely to be two different names for our destinations―the Dutch version and the French version. 

An example of this is the charming, canal-crossed town of Brugge (Dutch, pronounced broo-gha) or Bruges (French and English, pronounced broozh). Another example is the large city of Antwerp, which is also called Antwerpen (Dutch) and Anvers (French).





We were told that “everyone” would speak English, but that wasn't the case at all. Still, enough people spoke English that we got by okay, including the English-speaking Egyptian man who made Italian food for us in Dutch-speaking Belgium!

Did you know...?

Not only is Belgium one of the founding members of the European Union (EU), the headquarters is there.




Belgium is the “B-E” part of Benelux, which is a term for its economic union with the NEtherlands and LUXembourg. These three countries are also called the Low Countries because the land is mostly at or even below sea level.




Celebrate Belgium

Eat thick (Belgian) waffles or even a waffle sandwich. 



Eat “French” (really Belgian) fries.

Or how about some yummy Belgian chocolate?

 
Here and here and here are some recipes.

Read an Agatha Christie murder mystery―but make sure it involves Hercule Poirot, Christie's most famous detective and Belgian charmer.



Take a peek at Belgian oil paintings from past greats, including Rene Magritte.


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