Le Carnaval de Binche

Carnival is definitely a western-wide festivity with so many cultural variants : have you ever heard about the Belgian one coming from Binche ? "Le Carnaval de Binche" celebrates the walking of the Gilles, those men with the uncanny costumes, accompanying the cultural and folkloric percussion music. We mostly see them on the Shrove Day (Mardi Gras), the big day of the festivities. They dance, they wear masks and ostrich-feathered (ish) hats, and they throw oranges at the crowd... (!)Even though it only happens in the city of Binche, the entire country knows about them and it has been inscribed in the Unesco patrimony in 2003!

More traditions from Belgium →