26 Jul 2016

BELGIUM's NATIONAL DAY

As all countries Belgium too has its National day, and usually that day it rains, that belongs to the tradition. Except this year, the sun was shining and we had a wonderful weather !

The Belgian National Day is the day which Belgium celebrates on the 21 July each year.

The festival's formal establishment dates to a law of 27 May 1890 and commemorates an event on 21 July 1831 in which Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg swore allegiance to the new Belgian constitution, thus becoming the nation's first monarch. The king's vow marked the start of the independent state of Belgium under a constitutional monarchy and parliament. Says Wickipedia !

While in Brussels the King, Queen and other Royal family members sit on a tribune and watch the parade, in our little town the celebrations are more fun !



After our mayor (below left)  had held her speech, the flag was raised, and the anthem finished, everybody mingled together and chatted and greeted people they know.



Orchestras were playing and people dancing and our mayor danced too (below right with the white blouse and the man in blue shorts)





There were lots of games for children



A wall for wall painters where they could paint to their hearts content



and of course a lot of food and barrels of beer !

The day ended with a firework in the evening, apparently it had been very nice, but I was too lazy to watch it so late.



more participants here

8 comments:

  1. Hi Gattina - looks to be fun ... cheers Hilary

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  2. What a fun day. Those clear air balls in the pool must be fun. I am too old to try them.

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  3. Looks like you had a great day! The big floating balls in the pool look lots of fun :-)

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  4. Glad the weather was sunny for a change. It all looked very festive and fun.

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  5. So, did you paint anything on that wall?

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  6. It looks like so much fun.

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  7. Glad it didn't rain! It sounds like a very nice celebration. Fireworks lose their excitement after one has seen them approximately a million times (and after one doesn't really want to be out that late especially since you always have to spend so much time just sitting around and waiting for them to start.

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