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bigIn Belgium Halloween is not celebrated. But since a few years you can see some decorations in the shops. But my town Waterloo is an exception because one quarter of the current registered population are non-Belgian, most of whom work for institutions in Brussels, the capital of the European Union. Waterloo is home to St. John's International School, one of the largest and oldest international schools in Belgium. The European headquarters of MasterCard International is also located in Waterloo. Therefore we have a lot of Americans and British people living here. And they brought Halloween to Waterloo. Since 3 years the city organizes a Halloween party in the Waterloo park.
To make the foreign people feeling home, they even organized a "Trick and Treat" tour for the children. The Americans and other english speaking nationalities get a map indicating the streets and houses where children are welcome for "Trick and Treat". Just like in their countries.
This had been created because the poor Belgians couldn't understand when suddenly disguised children where standing at their doors and screaming "Trick or Treat". So families can give their addresses and are then put on a list where children are welcomed for this use in order not to create heard attacks for the Belgian population.
Here is a little video of the party, where the children are waiting for a "Witch Danse" and some pictures to show you how they celebrate. I took the pictures on saturday.
What a thoughtful thing to do for the expatriates. Maybe it will catch on with the natives.
ReplyDeleteHi Gattina! You always have the best photos. What a nice bit of cultural history you've provided - thanks! Happy MM!
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice way of keeping the tradition without collapsing the emergency room with the locals having heart attacs, lol!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, I like the little guy on his grave.
Happy Monday to you! hope you told your cats they are supposed to sleep longer in the mornings now :)
wow, I loved that--a look into what is celebrated in your part of the world. Excellent.
ReplyDeleteVery good photos!
ReplyDeletebonjour Gattina
ReplyDeleteTout cela a l'air très bien bien organisé!!! Les enfants sont adorables! C'est super! Ici halloween s'est fêté pendant quelques années mais maintenant tout s'est arrêté. Ce n'est pas dans la tradition et ça n'a pas tenu. Je ne comprends pas très bien le tag du captain. Si tu vas sur son blog regarde un peu. Je pensais qu'il fallait choisir mes 3 billets préférés dans mon blog. Apparement c'est pas ce qu'elle a fait et c'est quoi ce link special qu'elle envoie par mail!???
Passe un bon lundi! Aujourd'hui repos après une journée harassante mais super sympa hier!
Attention si tu passes par chez moi, étrange histoire "at the 6 of the old town"!
It's great that they've gone out of their way to accommodate a fun thing for the kids. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy MM!
Ian
Great MM Post! I appreciate you taking time to share some of the Belgian culture and photos with us. I knew there was a reason that Hercule Poirot became my favorite detective...
ReplyDeleteThere were many directions to go with this week's MM words Trick or Treat. I chose to go with Trick and my MM post this week tells a different story about Black Magic.
peace, Villager
Wonderful post, Gattine! Isn't it great that they do this for the kids. The Belgians must be wondering what the heck is going on?
ReplyDeleteHappy MM!
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How nice for the children. I think this year I will actually have a few kids come. Usually they don't because I live down a long dark driveway and it is very scary, even for me! Hihi!!
ReplyDeleteOh those darn folks from other countries coming over and making us do stuff we don't want to do. Just kidding. What a great post on Halloweens trick or treat. Have a great MM Gattina. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome post!
ReplyDeleteThe vid was great.
I love what you did with the pictures!
Happy Halloween!
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) hugs
(")_ (")Š from
the Cool Raggedy one
LOL! Gattina - I think YOU are enjoying Halloween as much (if not more) as the kids! That is good! Are they coming to YOUR house for Trick or Treats?
ReplyDeleteThat is so wonderful that Belgium would embrace a holiday like that, especially a spooky one! Happy MM:D
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way of organize it so that the kids who are used to and like the tradition can have fun as the population are prepared.
ReplyDeleteAs I've told in my post, Norwegians are ambivalent to Halloween, but this is a win-win way of doing it - thanks for sharing Gattina!
Oh, that's great, special maps and all. I love all the painted faces, very creative ones. And the head! Would have loved to have somethi like that hanging from the ceiling.... dripping blood... *giggles*
ReplyDeleteI'm very busy with all the preparations for the Halloween Party tomotrrow! Don't forget to take all your monsters with you .... *giggles*
what cutie little children! we will be celebrating Halloween tomorrow. I hope my little one will enjoy her trick or treat tomorrow :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a very cool party for the kids! I wish we were there.
ReplyDeleteBoo! Trick or treat!
ReplyDeleteIt’s morning after Halloween in Singapore and I’ve visited the Captain in Sweden, Renny and TorAa in Norway. What a Spooktacular party at Captain’s!!! And TorAa and I had a fun time scaring the kids! hehehe…..
I think it's a good idea to have a list of local participants for Halloween. I'm gonna suggest that to my Town Council should we decide to organise a Halloween Party for the residents next year.
Happy Halloween!!!