This small Wallonian city hosts one of Belgium's largest and most popular carnivals. The festivities last for several weeks with the main events beginning on the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday. This is similar to Fat Tuesday in New Orleans. The end of carnival is marked by a parade where Gilles (males born and raised in Binche) march through the streets wearing traditonal costumes. They march to the music of drums and horns and throw oranges to the spectators. They carry the oranges in baskets and have support teams of people wearing large backpacks filled with reinforcements. Why oranges? I have no idea! The crowd claps and steps to the music while trying to catch the oranges. I guess it's similar to collecting Mardi Gras beads. Rick and I ended up with a total of 8. Some people also throw confetti.
Numerous events take place during the carnival. We attended the parade on Shrove Tuesday (20 February). We left Paris early to catch a glimpse of this age-old tradition. The town is only 50 kilometers from Brussels so it was basically on our way home. It was very interesting. Many of the spectators adorned masks and costumes as well. Note the photo of Spiderman. All of the apartment and shop windows were protected with chicken wire to prevent breakage from oranges. This also provided Spiderman with something similar to a web to climb on. There were definitely some orange-related injuries. A man that was standing next to us got beamed in the head and several people around him were squirted with orange juice. The streets were covered with smashed oranges and were slippery to walk on. Oh the madness!
While Brussels does not have a carnival, schools and some other agencies are closed for the week in recognition of the holiday.
For more info:
Numerous events take place during the carnival. We attended the parade on Shrove Tuesday (20 February). We left Paris early to catch a glimpse of this age-old tradition. The town is only 50 kilometers from Brussels so it was basically on our way home. It was very interesting. Many of the spectators adorned masks and costumes as well. Note the photo of Spiderman. All of the apartment and shop windows were protected with chicken wire to prevent breakage from oranges. This also provided Spiderman with something similar to a web to climb on. There were definitely some orange-related injuries. A man that was standing next to us got beamed in the head and several people around him were squirted with orange juice. The streets were covered with smashed oranges and were slippery to walk on. Oh the madness!
While Brussels does not have a carnival, schools and some other agencies are closed for the week in recognition of the holiday.
For more info:
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