In the land of chocolate and lace...and strange dancing men!

Putting the lie to the thesis that chocolate releases endorphins and thus lifts the spirits, the Belgians are generally found to be a staid and sour-natured people - you might be, too, if you'd been under the thumb of all your neighbors for centuries. But by luck, I got to see a different side of the Belgians while I was in Brussels, and it was like time traveling. No one could explain to me what historical event was being commemorated. The closest I got was that the townspeople had defeated some enemy hundreds of years ago, and by God, they are still proud about it! Toujours la Belgie!
Anyway, the first hint that something funny was going on was when I came into a square and saw men jousting. Yes, really jousting: on horses, with lances, in armor, bearing standards, the horses in trappings, with a king there pronouncing winners and losers! Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me, so I can't prove this, but there was a huge horse on wheels there, and I saw him again later when the medieval parade came strutting through the streets.
(In case you're worried, no one got knocked off his horse. The goal seemed to be the break the ends off each others lances, which indeed they did. They were seriously galloping at one another!)

Not sure he likes his costume....

I only took a few pictures, but this parade went on and on. Here's the Belgian Horse. Maybe there are chocolatiers and lace makers hiding inside, ready to assault and take over the capitol. Stupefy them with the sweet stuff and then tie 'em up in pretty, but binding, patterned threads?


Whatever, he is clearly bent on destruction.


I had been disappointed earlier in the day when I found the Grand Place entirely closed off and set up with bleachers and a long, very decorated dais.




After dinner at Aux Armes, I wandered up there, and the bleachers were full, the dais peopled with folks in medieval garb, and again there were men on horses bearing standards, being introduced in sonorous tones to a fanfare of trumpets as they walked in complicated formations. The crowds roared with each announcement.


After which I wandered through some side streets, and encountered this:


This group of men were just gathering when I came upon them. You can't see it too well, but there is a group of musicians, all dressed up in black priests robes, behind these guys. There were clarinets, drums, horns of all kinds. And these blokes - they had padded fronts, bells all over, and carried these golden wicker things with more bells in them. Here's a close up of my favorite guy of all....




And another:


So once they were all assembled, they began dancing through the streets and shaking their bell cages to the medieval carnival type music the "priests"played:




Every few bars they would all stop and shake and jump and turn, all on cue. And...they had on wooden shoes, albeit very decorated ones! Which made a wonderful sound on the cobblestones.


By now a crowd of very drunken people (they'd been into that 9% Belgian beer, no doubt!) were following the troupe as they danced through the streets. I thought that there was no way it could get better than this....but I was wrong! At one corner, the dancing men all stopped, and started putting on these head dresses:


I LOVE this guy! He handed me his bell cage while he suited up.






It reminded me of that "I Love Lucy" episode where she has to wear this huge head dress and walk down an endless flight of stairs, and keeps falling...these things were as gigantic, heavy, and feathered, and probably had bells in them as well. And now the party really got crazy! Again they danced through the streets, and again they would all stop on cue and shake their head dresses back and forth in unison!





Who were these guys? They were really whooping it up, and I wondered: what do they do the REST of the year? Are they the dour public servants, the bored shop keepers, the snide waiters, the regular Jacques I saw as I walked around Brussels? I keep meaning to look up the date, July 3rd, and see what was going on...and when I do, I'll let you know!

And just as suddenly as it began, it was over! They took off their toppers, put down their bells, and disappeared. The crowd that had followed them - which were not many in number - all kind of turned and looked at each other, like, "Did that really just happen?"

My pics prove that it did!

By the next morning. all signs of this medieval interlude were gone. The bleachers in the Grande Place mysteriously disappeared over night, the Belgian Horse had cantered off, and folks looked normal again.

Vive La Belgie, I say!