Over the past few decades, the definition of the term “cultural heritage” has evolved. UNESCO no longer considers just monuments and objects as acceptable cultural heritage, but more complex, abstract, intangible things are now included. Traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts, all constitute Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Belgium is rich in traditions and events of such incommensurable value. Below are 10 of the Belgian festivities inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Other practices on the list are: falconry, the musical art of horn players – an instrumental technique linked to singing, breath control, vibrato, resonance of place and conviviality, the cultivation of ludodiversity – traditional games in Flanders, the Houtem Jaarmarkt annual winter fair and livestock market at Sint-Lievens-Houtem and the Krakelingen and Tonnekensbrand end-of-winter bread and fire feast at Geraardsbergen.
1. Carnival of Binche
Inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The town of Binche is situated south of Brussels in Belgium’s Hainaut province. Each year, during the three days preceding Lent, it is host to carnival festivities that mobilize the historic centre and attract crowds of foreign visitors.
With roots dating back to the Middle Ages, Binche’s famed celebration ranks as one of Europe’s oldest surviving street carnivals.
2. Processional giants and dragons in Belgium and France
Inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Traditional processions of huge figurines of giants, animals or dragons encompass an original ensemble of festive popular manifestations and ritual representations.
These first appeared in urban religious processions at the end of the 14th century in many European towns and continue to serve as emblems of identity for certain Belgian (Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons) and French towns (Cassel, Douai, Pézenas and Tarascon), where they remain living traditions.
3. Procession of the Holy Blood in Bruges
Inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
For centuries, the ceremony has played an important role in expressing the identity of Bruges’s inhabitants and in facilitating encounters with people from outside the city. Each spring, 30,000 to 45,000 spectators gather in the heart of the city to watch the Procession of the Holy Blood on Ascension Day, forty days after Easter. Led by the thirty city notables of the Brotherhood of the Holy Blood and accompanied by brass bands, more than 1,700 citizens on foot, in carts or on horseback perform stories from the Old Testament, the life of Jesus and the history of Bruges.
The colourful pageant dates back to the 13th century, when a citizen of Bruges is said to have brought the Relic of the Holy Blood of Jesus Christ back from the Second Crusade.
4. Leuven age set ritual repertoire
Inscribed in 2011 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Leuven age set ritual repertoire is a rite of passage in a man’s life centring on the ten years leading up to his fiftieth birthday. For men living in or around Leuven a journey of socio-cultural and philanthropic activities and ceremonies commences at the age of forty with the forming of an age set and culminates at the age of fifty on Abraham Day, with a celebration in the city’s central park around the statue of the prophet Abraham.
5. Marches of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse
Inscribed in 2012 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Marches of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse are a major component of the cultural identity of the eponymous region found between the rivers of Sambre and Meuse in Wallonia. The marches commemorate the dedication of churches of many villages and small towns honouring the Saint to whom the religious buildings are dedicated.
6. Shrimp fishing on horseback in Oostduinkerke
Inscribed in 2013 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
There are only twelve households in Oostduinkerke actively engaged in shrimp fishing, each having its own speciality, such as weaving nets or an extensive knowledge of Brabant draft horses. A good knowledge of the sea and the sand strip, coupled with a high level of trust and respect for one’s horse, are the shrimpers’ essential attributes. The tradition gives the community a strong sense of collective identity and plays a central role in social and cultural events, including the two-day Shrimp Festival for which the local community spends months building floats, preparing street theatre and making costumes.
7. Safeguarding the carillon culture: preservation, transmission, exchange and awareness-raising
Selected in 2014 on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.
The art of making music with bells (carillon) is performed by carillonneurs, traditionally during market and festive days. The programme to safeguard carillon culture exists in 76 Belgian cities and villages, as well as in another 30 countries around the world. The primary objectives are to preserve the components of historic carillon culture (practices, repertoire, instruments, music, oral and written history), and to ensure the continuity and sustainable development of carillon music as a living heritage that fosters cultural identity and social cohesion.
8. Beer culture in Belgium
Inscribed in 2016 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Making and appreciating beer is part of the living heritage of a range of communities throughout Belgium. It plays a role in daily life, as well as festive occasions. Almost 1,500 types of beer are produced in the country using different fermentation methods.
Since the 80s, craft beer has become especially popular, certain regions becoming known for their particular varieties.
9. Ommegang of Brussels, an annual historical procession and popular festival
Inscribed in 2019 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Having originated as a religious event in 1348, the tradition declined in the 18th century and the modern Ommegang was then recreated in 1928-1930 based on descriptions of the procession Charles V attended in 1549.
Nowadays, the tradition has evolved into a festive, local heritage event, which takes place annually, over two evenings in July, in the historic centre of Brussels.
10. Namur stilt jousting
Inscribed in 2021 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
During a stilt joust, participants attempt to knock all the members of the opposing team to the ground. Stilt jousting is a strong marker of Namur’s identity and is seen as a factor of cohesion and integration for the inhabitants of the city.
The tradition dates back to the early 15th century, when the jousters were grouped into two teams: the Mélans, with yellow and black stilts, representing the old town, and the Avresses, with red and white stilts, representing the new town and neighbouring villages. Nowadays however, applicants join a team based on affinity rather than on location.
