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Article and Photographs by Keith Kellet In the first week of July, the Belgian capital, Brussels, puts on its party clothes. Those clothes are of the most sumptuous and flamboyant kind because, on the Tuesday and Thursday, the Ommegang is celebrated in the Grand'Place, in the city's baroque main square.
But, although the parading of the statue still takes place, it's overshadowed by the secular part of the procession, which recalls events of 200 years later. In 1549, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, visited Brussels. Anxious to impress this powerful potentate, the city's dignitaries, the militia, the guildsmen, and their families all put on their finest...all but matching the splendour of Emperor Charles' court, which included his son and his sisters who, between them, by inheritance or marriage, ruled most of the known world.
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JustSayGO Travel Show
Ommegang
means 'a procession' or, literally, a 'walk around'. This 'walkabout'
had its beginnings in 1348 when a statue of the Virgin was removed from
Antwerp and placed in the chapel of Sablon. The woman who took the statue
convinced the people of Antwerp that she had been commanded to do so
by Our Lady herself, so they agreed that the statue might stay in Brussels,
provided that an appropriate procession was held every year to show
the statue to the people. 
Such
a good time was had by all, that the burghers of Brussels decided that
the event should be re-enacted every year. So, the Emperor's court take
their places in the Royal Box, accompanied by bands and their banner-bearing
heralds, while the knights, standard-bearers, the craftsmen's Guilds
and the military Guilds who defended the city march past, followed by
white-robed bearers with the statue of the Virgin. Then, the entertainment
starts...the giants Janneken and Mieke lead, followed by the stilt walkers,
their fellow-giants, and the dancers and acrobats...and all ends, literally,
with a bang as the magician sets off the fireworks and the Arquebusier's
Guild set off a deafening feu de joie!
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