Christmas in Belgium

Bouketes y choucroute in Legia. On Christmas day the inhabitants of the city on Legia, Belgium, head to the bakeries to buy a delicious Bouketes, then head to the shops to buy the famous spiced wine. During Christmas day Belgians eat the bouketes and accompany it with a delicious glass of mulled wine. Due to the high comsumption of traditional Belgian bread, bakers have the longest working hours of the whole year since the amount of bread they must make must supply the vast majority of the inhabitants. "Boukete"means buckwheat. "Boukete" is somewhat similar to "bockouite", used by the Acadians in the Upper St. John Valley of Maine. The actual French word of buckwheat is "sarrasin". The full name of this pancake is "Boukete a retchon". "Retchon" means to spit and refers to spitting into the pan to see if it´s hot enough. In modern times the practice isn´t to use the full name because it tended to discourage people from eating t...

  Christmas Jumper Day. This trend originated in English-speaking countries and because it´s an activity with solidarity objectives, it has become a tradition that has crossed different borders and has conquered Belgium and other countries. This activity was promoted by the "Save the children" organization, this playful activity invites families to wear a wool sweater with many Christmas details and the more striking and beautiful the better, this event takes place one day before Christmas Eve in order to raise resources for people in need and that these resources are delivered before Christmas. The main objective of carrying out this beautiful activity is to reflect on human values and sensitize society in general, especially children and young people, about the vulnerable situation in which other children find themselves in the world. Some schools and cultural centers open their doors, with family programming and with the possibility of making donation and gifts for communi...

Les trairies á Andenne. There is a nice tradition from 200 years ago that the bakeries, pastry shops and taverns of Wallonia at Christmas do a card game that allows people to win some cougnous. This beautiful tradition began at the beginning of the 20th century, when some people began to play with traditional cards in a bakery, it´s estimated that these same people played approximately 270 games, but to make the games more interesnting they decided to bet about one tons of delicious cougnous and that´s where this nice tradition of card game win cougnous started. The rules of the game are: 1. The ten players pay their bet and gather around a table; 2. One of them is chosen by the others to shuffle the cards for the first time. The first beater shuffles the cards and then hands the deck to his neighbor to the right of him, who cuts them. The drummer picks up the cut cards and passes them to his neighbor on the left who hands them out; 3. The distribution is clockwise; 4. Each player rece...

Winter splendor. For Belgians, one of the most important times is the Christmas season, which is why since before Christmas begins, the Belgians are already starting to set up some places so that people can enjoy some attractions, light shows and even the famous markets Christmas. As already mentioned San Nicolas makes two visits to Belgium, one of them on December 4 to investigate which children have behaved well and which children have misbehaved and returns on December 6 to leave de gifts, it´s for that the Christmas season begins at the end of November and beginning of December. To kick off the Christmas season, Belgium´s most beautiful winter experience has been created, the Christmas splendor that spreads throughout the city from November 25 to January 8. This beautiful Belgian celebration is a winter feast full of sensory experiences that provides the great opportunity to experience an incredible light show, plus you can find many shops and also find some Christmas markets, wint...

 Languages. Belgium straddles the border between Germanic and Romance-speaking Latin Europe and this position is reflected in the country´s politics, culture and linguistic composition. In Belgium Ducth, German and French are spoken (not to mention the mixture of various dialects) all speakers of these three different languages living together in a not so extensive territory. Due to the great unified cultural mix that exists in Belgium, the different positions on language have generated discrepancies between the different linguistic communities. In Belgium, mainly in the North Flanders region, which comprises 60% of the population, their language is almost identical to Dutch from the Netherlands, this language is called "Belgium- Dutch" or also known as "Flemish". Of course there are some differences between Flemish and standard Ducth particulary in pronunciation, vocabulary and some idioms. The second language in Belgium is French, the community that inhabits Wallo...

 Decorations. For Belgians, Christmas is one of the most importnatn and beautiful times of the year, which is why when the Christmas season approaches, people begin to buy many things to decorate their houses and pine trees. As Saint Nicholas comes to Blegium on December 6 to distribute gifts to children who have behaved well and to distribute branches to children who have behaved badly, the Christmas tree must already be up, so the Christmas decorations start at the end of November and early December, during this time the stores are usually full. The traditional Chistmas tree in Belgium is a natural pine tree, but since sustainability and responsible consumption are of great importance to Belgians, the Belgian community plants thousands of pine trees before cutting down the pines for the Christmas tree. For the decoration of the Christmas tree, they use Christmas spheres and lights that make the tree stand out and look much beautiful, some people usually include ribbons to complem...