New Year in Belgium traditions and customs. To celebrate the New Year in Belgium is to .... Large square in lights

Celebrating the New Year in Belgium was initially an adventurous idea, given some personal circumstances. However, the desire to see with their own eyes the Flemish cities with a rich history, literally crammed with sights, outweighed them.

And now, on January 31, we are already in Christmas Brussels, decorated with sophistication and at the same time with home comfort, as only the Flemings, not loaded with imperial complexes, can do. The buildings of the Grand Place shimmered with five colors, their lacy gothic seemed to help their visitors feel the festive atmosphere. A diverse audience gathered in the square, we saw representatives of all ages and even skin colors, and all those gathered smiled at each other in a friendly way. Cheerful Christmas music was playing and some people even danced in the square. The nearby symbol of the city, Manneken Pis, was dressed up as Santa Claus. Brussels seemed to generate positive emotions, and it was clearly impressed by the festive mood of its guests and residents.

We returned to the hotel shortly after midnight to sleep and continue our acquaintance with this wonderful city in the morning. In the morning, its streets and squares were surprisingly clean and tidy - probably the Belgians simply do not litter, respecting their cities. Now the Grand Place was majestic, the City Hall and the King's House looked at us with severity and dignity. The Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula struck with its splendor, Notre-Dame-du-Sablon could not be examined carefully, there was a service that did not want to interfere. The Rene Magritte Museum was completely closed, on the occasion of a day off, and the “rubber king” Leopold II, who had not won the love of his subjects for 44 years of his reign, looked wistfully at us. The weather did not indulge: it was about zero, which, with a rather strong wind and persistent light rain, forced us to periodically look into local cafes to warm up.

Brussels is a French speaking city and even the waiters don't always understand English. In one of the cafes, the waitress, trying to understand our English, suddenly began to smile when a friend addressed me in Russian. It turned out that she was born in Chisinau and moved to Brussels 5 years ago, having married a Belgian. Overjoyed at the opportunity to speak in her native language, she sat down at our table.

Mary lives in Waterloo, a tourist suburb of Brussels famous for the famous battle in which the coalition led by Wellington defeated Napoleon. Her husband, a historian and local historian, works as a guide at the Waterloo Museum, and Maria, who left Moldova as a very young girl, is studying at the local medical university. When Maria found out that we were doctors, the conversation flowed even more naturally, we already talked like old friends. The conversation touched on her prospects in a medical career. It turned out that she already had an invitation to the Waterloo clinic, the head of which was also Russian, who graduated from a medical school in Leningrad. Knowing the level of our education in those years, he searches for graduates of our universities and, without additional exams and confirmations, hires them.

Intrigued, we visited Maria the next day. She invited us to visit this clinic, where we met with its leader, Alexei. He really turned out to be interested in specialists from Russia, and offered us a temporary contract, subject to basic knowledge of French. The terms of the contract turned out to be very tempting, and we agreed, stipulating that we needed time to learn the language.

This time we decided to celebrate the New Year in the administrative capital of Europe (it is also the capital of Belgium) - in Brussels. We booked a hotel and train tickets through a German travel agency - about two and a half months in advance, because the closer to Christmas and New Year, the fewer opportunities to book at least something. In total, our trip lasted 5 days and 4 nights - not that much, but not some kind of blitz tour “galloping around Europe”.

We left Bremen on the morning of December 29, the train takes 3 hours to Cologne, there is a transfer, an hour to the Belgian border, from there another hour to Brussels. Only 6 hours of travel. Some, let's say, the difference between the German and Belgian mentality made itself felt even on the train, when the driver's crew changed at the border - the Germans left, the Belgians entered. And up to this point, before each stop, they announced - which city we are approaching, whether we are late and how much, what transfers and from what routes are possible .... After the drivers changed - until Brussels, no one heard a word from them, even on French. By the way, about the language - in Belgium they speak French and Flemish - a variant of Dutch, so I had to learn English before the trip. There was little hope for German, and as it turned out, not in vain. If the Flemish inscriptions can still be read somehow, having knowledge of German and English, then the French ones are class alien to us, and considering that just in Brussels 70% speak exactly French ... Well, okay, in extreme cases, you can always point a finger and use gestures to explain. In short, we got to Brussels - while we were driving through Germany and Belgium, the weather changed every hour in all directions - it snows here, it rains there, it's dry here, and there it's winter and everything has failed. Here it is, Europe, small, but diverse. This is not Siberia for you - in all directions it is minus forty for 1000 kilometers.

Brussels Central Station surprised me somewhat with its slight neglect and small number of people. Apparently, the Belgians do not travel by train for the holidays, or something. We took a taxi (we didn’t want to deal with the local metro tired from the road and with a suitcase), explained somehow with the taxi driver (I mean, I speak English to him, he speaks French to me) and finally got to the hotel. We got a very, very decent room, which surprised us, despite the fact that we paid very reasonable money. Bathroom with bathtub, two sinks, TV, lots of space, air conditioning, sofas, desk and all that. Even the minibar with expensive drinks. Even an outlet with the Internet in the room, if anyone has a laptop. The staff does not speak German, but they do speak English. In general, the hotel was very good, almost in the very center, but in a quiet place, very traditional in appearance, very clean, in our room, for example, the maid was cleaned every day. Breakfast deserves special mention - it was a buffet with a huge selection of dishes - for every taste, take as much as you eat. And you have buns, and croissants (real! French!), And sausage cheese, and jam, and yogurt, and muesli flakes, and an omelet with bacon and sausages, and what else is there ... In short, we ate there every morning so that it lasted until the evening, and after all, we walked around the city all day.

Well, we arrived, left our things and immediately went to see the city - a camera in one hand, a guidebook in the other - typical tourists, plus a backpack on our shoulders. The weather met us not the best - sleet and thaw, but what else to expect from Northern Europe in winter? We went straight to the Central Square, "Grand Place". This is a huge square, surrounded by ancient buildings in a wide variety of styles - from Gothic to Empire - the palaces of all kinds of dukes, houses of merchant guilds (and Brussels, like Bremen, is an old merchant city, a center of trade), and at the head of all this stands a tall white Gothic The town hall, with the thinnest turrets and spiers aimed at the clouds, and on the topmost spire there is a golden statue of someone, lost in the mist of a cloudy sky. The building is really amazing with its height and elegance of architecture, I have never seen anything like it in Germany, except perhaps the Gothic cathedrals in Munster, but they were smaller. From the square, crooked streets scatter in all directions with numerous shops for tourists, bars and restaurants, but more on that later.

On New Year's Eve, the square was decorated in an unusual way - in addition to Christmas trees and a large installation with the Manger of Christ, very beautifully illuminated statues of various livestock - cows, donkeys, sheep - stood everywhere. And here they were glowing with multi-colored lights, and from somewhere all the time there was a lowing and bleating all sorts of things. And on the Christmas trees hung inflatable sheep, quite large even. Very unusual. We walked a little along the streets, took pictures, looked at the statue of the famous Pissing Boy and decided to go somewhere to have a bite and warm up. As it usually happens (the law of meanness!), those bars and restaurants, the addresses of which I had previously found on the Internet and printed out, could not be found in the darkness and bustle, especially my glasses and the printed guidebook were covered with wet snow all the time. In short, we spit on all this and went into the first cafe "La Legenda" that came across. The waiter surprised us right away by offering several languages of communication “to choose from”, and then asked if we were from Russia (in English). I foolishly said yes, after which they brought us a menu in Russian! In general, they are accustomed to tourists there. The Russian menu, however, was translated in such a way that it would be better if I told the truth that I am from Germany. What was worth only the dish "Chicken boiled in beer with cherries." So we decided to let it go, and in return we asked for the national dish “wassersoup”, already known to us (according to the guide). In fact, this is a very hearty stew of chicken, potatoes, carrots, other vegetables, as well as a creamy sauce. This chowder warmed us at the moment, so the choice was good.

By the way, at the time of our arrival in Belgium, Belgian francs were still circulating (the rate to the mark was 1 to 20, hello to my math teacher), which from January 1 should have been painlessly replaced by the euro, as in all civilized Europe. It was this Belgian currency that gave us the main trouble in Brussels. The fact is that on the road we took only a little cash in German marks and Belgian francs, believing the statements of the bank that in Belgium there are ATMs at every step, where we can easily and simply withdraw money on our credit cards. Banks can't be trusted! This is in Germany at every step, ATMs, and in Brussels - which we found, accepted only local cards, but not international ones. In short, we can’t withdraw money, we ran around from a dozen ATMs, and already in the evening, Saturday, the banks are closed, and tomorrow is Sunday and they are also closed ... In general, we exchanged at the exchange office (for the first time in 1.5 years I saw! There are none in Germany!) all their stamps for francs, went around a dozen more ATMs, until they finally found one that agreed to accept our cards! It was a real moment of truth! And then in broken English, trying to find out from the workers of exchange offices where they have human ATMs here is not a pleasant pleasure, especially since they don’t know anything. So we withdrew the money, but that was half the problem. The other half was waiting for us later, at the departure....

Well, that's how our first day ended. On the second day we took a walk around the city in clear light, took a lot of pictures (and brought 4 films in total), got an impression of the city. Brussels is somewhat subtly similar to Moscow and not at all like Bremen and other German cities. The city is big, kind of hectic, the local population is very colorful, there are a lot of tourists, no one follows the rules of the road, you can’t find public toilets, there is a lot of garbage on the streets - and the most beautiful buildings of all eras and architectural styles (restored) are adjacent to abandoned huts with broken windows and blackened walls. In the center - the glass skyscrapers of the European Union, palaces, cathedrals - and you walk away from the center for 10 minutes - and there are such slums that you remember the book "Children of the Underground". In general, the Belgians (and in Brussels they are mostly of French origin) are some kind of people ... chatty or something, not like the Germans. Well, the French, they are the French. A sort of slight neglect and frivolity reigns throughout the city.

We also visited the Royal Museum of Fine Arts - the museum is huge, in three hours we managed to get around only art galleries of the 12th-18th centuries, there are a lot of famous paintings - the Little Flemings, Rubens, Rembrandt and others. We were very impressed by the huge Cathedral of the Archangel Michael - unusually bright for a Catholic cathedral, with bright, beautiful frescoes - and inside there was also an exhibition of Christmas installations from different countries - very beautiful and diverse. We even managed to listen to part of the mass and organ music - very inspiring.

Well, after the cathedral and the museum, we went to a small family bar (again, the first one that came across) and began our acquaintance with the famous Belgian beer! About beer - this is a special conversation. Whoever thinks that Germany is a country of beer is mistaken. This is Bavaria, the country of beer, not the whole of Germany. And green hats with feathers, and shorts with suspenders, and golfs, and beer bellies - this is all Bavaria. In the west of Germany they drink mainly wine, while in our north they drink something stronger, liquors, tinctures and vodka. And beer in Bremen is only two or three varieties and is no better than Russian. But Belgian beer .... it's something! Few people know, but there are bars that serve 75 types of beer - from the classic light (very mild) Stella Artua or wheat Hoegaarden to strong black Luffels, and in addition there are very unusual varieties - for example, cherry beer, or currant beer, or raspberry beer, or sour beer! We tried a total of eight varieties during our trip, it’s just not enough to try! All the beer there is just wonderful, it’s even difficult to single out some, let alone describe it. We even took cherry beer with us to Bremen - on the one hand, this is real beer, and on the other hand, it is cherry-colored and has a cherry flavor! All in all, this is a must try.

Since we are talking about beer, I will describe a little more and an appetizer, that is, Belgian food. Their national food is mussels with french fries, and mussels in dozens of varieties, as well as all sorts of different seafood - shrimp, crabs, lobsters, fish .... What we could, we tried and were very pleased. By the way, about restaurants - one street departs from the Central Square, in translation “Butchers Street” - completely crammed with restaurants! To tell the truth, there is nothing else on it, except for restaurants, that is, they are in every home. And not just restaurants, but divided into groups - here Belgian fish, here Greek, in the alley - some Italian, in another - Asian. But the most luxurious are fish, Belgian. In front of everyone on the street there are huge counters, and on them - lobsters, oysters, mussels on ice, fresh fish and a lot of other food. And at the door there is a barker and sticks to passers-by, and they do it, in my opinion, in all languages of the world. They even read the menu to us in Russian! These barkers, in my opinion, know how to accurately determine nationality by their faces.

In one such elite restaurant "Chez Leon" we had lunch on the evening of December 31, that is, we saw off the Old Year. The restaurant, of course, is expensive, but very beautiful, and the service is at the highest level. We ate fish there, of course, and washed down with cherry beer, and then another sour beer.

As for the New Year itself, in Belgium it is celebrated, as in Germany, very noisily, firecrackers are fired everywhere, crowds of excited teenagers, etc., etc. To be honest, I don’t really like such celebrations, so we met the New Year at the hotel with a bottle of German champagne and a box of Belgian chocolates. About sweets - Belgium is also famous for chocolates, there are a lot of shops there, in each they sell sweets of all conceivable and inconceivable varieties in boxes and by weight. There are terribly expensive stores that are already under 200 years old, there are also cheaper ones - but all the sweets are very tasty. So we had a little fun there.

Well, in our free time from visiting restaurants and bars, we walked around the city, went around many sights, looked, of course, at the royal palace (since Belgium is now a kingdom, a real king lives there) - a huge palace surrounded by an iron fence, and places there some uninhabited. We also climbed the so-called. "Mountain of Arts" - a hill on which they have many museums (and Brussels is generally hilly, like Moscow) - from this hill the whole city is visible at a glance. We met and photographed various comics with which the walls of houses are painted here and there in the city - this is the national Belgian art. And of course, we photographed a wide variety of buildings of a wide variety of architectural styles and eras - there was nothing mixed in there... so to speak pleasant with useful. And hunger was satisfied on the streets with hot waffles, which are sold everywhere there, like sausages in a bun in Germany. Finally, the day of our departure came, January 2, and here another problem lay in wait for us - the fact is that 12 European countries have replaced their old currency with the euro since the New Year. However, the old currency had to go in parallel for another 2 months. And we had about 6,000 francs (150 euros) of Belgian cash left - and we didn’t smile to bring them back to Germany, since no one needed them there. We went to the bank - there was pandemonium, we stood in a huge queue, the teller politely refuses to exchange us because we are not clients of this bank. Nice business! In Belgium, we are, of course, nobody's clients! But the euros are needed, and the operator sends us to the exchange office. Okay, we arrived at the station, handed over things to the storage room, we still have 5 hours before the train leaves. We go to the exchange office - and they say why do you need to change with us, we have high commission rates (they take care of me!), Better go to the bank! In fact, neither the bank nor the exchanger needs the old currency anymore, if I had dollars, they would have been exchanged for euros quickly. But I still managed to convince the frame behind the window that I desperately needed euros, that the bank had already sent us to the exchange office, and that I agreed to pay interest. Yes, I haven't spoken so much English in a long time! Still, he exchanged euros for us, and with shiny new money in our pocket, we set off to spend the last hours in Brussels... know exactly where car 149 will stop? ??), so he also stood for less than a minute, so he had to jump into the nearest one, and then, with a heavy suitcase, drag himself through the entire train in search of his car! And there are no car numbers on the doors! Somehow they found it, finding Germans among the passengers, thank God! Well, the toilets on this train - in one there is no water, in the other paper. It reminded me vividly of Russia.

So we were incredibly happy when in Cologne we transferred to a normal German train, in which all toilets work, every half an hour they announce stops, late times and possible transfers ... German seemed almost native then! Finally understandable!

The time for New Year's gifts, crackers, sparklers, champagne and tangerines is just around the corner. Someone is planning to celebrate the New Year with their family, someone will go for new experiences to distant lands. If you love the ancient architecture of the Middle Ages, go to New Year in Belgium.

As in all of Europe, a series of Belgian New Year's Eve starts at Christmas. In Belgium, there is a peculiar Christmas tradition: on the eve of the holy holiday, they spend the night at the gaming table.

In every cafe, snack bar and restaurant, you will definitely see large companies that are enthusiastically playing cards. The winner receives a fairly large bun made of rich dough with icing and powdered sugar. It is called kerstbroden and is meant to bring good luck. Sometimes a chocolate "log" 30 cm long is served instead.

In general, the inhabitants of Belgium have a lot of New Year's customs associated with food. For example, the popular election of the king of the holiday. To do this, women bake a large pie in which they hide the bean. The one who gets a piece of the pie with the "stuffing" is declared the king of the holiday. The king, in turn, selects for himself a queen and retinue: a court jester, a nobleman and others.

This is how the noisy New Year's festivities begin, which take place on the central square of Brussels, Grand Place. In the center of it is an elegant Christmas tree, next to it is the manger in which Jesus was born, giant Christmas balls are hung everywhere. A feature of the New Year's decoration of the city are mirror and transparent spheres, installed on the main square and sometimes reaching three meters in diameter. In the reflection of the mirror balls, tourists and locals can admire the architectural structures of the 16th century.

In the evening, the Grand Place turns into a giant rectangular screen, on which various images are projected every 20 minutes, including biblical ones, as well as Mona Lisa, Don Quixote and the emperor of Catholic Europe Charles the Fifth. It is here, on the main square of the city, that the spirit of Christmas hovers, New Year's songs sound and mulled wine flows like a river.

If you dream of seclusion from noisy festivities - go to Bruges. A small town with ancient architecture will enchant you with its fabulous atmosphere and give you the feeling that you are a hero of the Middle Ages. Here you can buy interesting New Year's souvenirs for friends and relatives, and after a long walk through the narrow streets of the city, relax in a cozy cafe with a cup of aromatic coffee and Belgian chocolate.

An obligatory point of the program is the Ice Sculpture Park, which is located opposite the city station. In two large hangars there are ice symbols of different countries (for example, the Kremlin or the Eiffel Tower) and sculptures of people from different eras - Chinese emperors, Mozart, Che Guevara. To warm up after a long walk in the fresh frosty air, you should go to an ice bar and drink vodka or liquor from ice glasses.

From January 2, in Bruges, as elsewhere in Europe, seasonal discounts begin. It is especially worth paying attention to clothes for children - very high quality and beautiful. Interesting purchases can be made in the stores of Belgian designers. And on the main square of Burg (Burg) during the Christmas holidays there is a farmer's fair, here you can buy delicious cheese, which will be a great gift for friends.

Having decided to go to Belgium for the New Year, you will not only enjoy ancient architecture, try local beer and chocolate, but also be able to touch the ancient traditions carefully guarded by the Belgian people.

Belgium. New Year in Brussels

Belgian New Year and Christmas holidays in Belgium.

It may seem strange to you, but on New Year's Eve, an ordinary Belgian family often spends time .... for a card game similar in terms of rules to our fool game. And the thing is that this is a tradition, and they play not just like that, but for fun.

The winner of the game is presented with a prize. The prize is traditionally Kerstbroden (can be translated as bread for Christmas) - a grandiose bun, generously sprinkled with powdered sugar and flavored with icing, usually the bun has the shape of an angel or Jesus. However, you can win a log of chocolate, not bad either.

Grand Place in Brussels at Christmas

San Nicola(as Santa Claus is called in Belgium) visits children during Christmas week with his assistant Perfetor, whose vehicle is a donkey.
In small Belgian villages, there is also a tradition of gifting children with the Three Kings, which symbolize the Magi. The Three Kings move from house to house with singing and give sweets to children.
New Year in Belgium, the calendar coincides with the church holiday of St. Sylvester.
The New Year's holiday for the Belgians is not as significant as Christmas, as a result of which it is not so pompously celebrated. It is customary to celebrate the New Year in a friendly company.
When the clock strikes midnight, the Belgians turn to each other with wishes of happiness and good luck in the coming year, and it is also customary to kiss.

Square of St. Catherine in Brussels for Christmas

January 1st of the new year has a special meaning for the Belgians. It is believed that how a person spends this day will play an important role in predetermining how the whole coming year will turn out for a person.
The weeks leading up to Christmas, New Year's Day and the week after New Year's are significant in that a grandiose fair. In the squares of Brussels, St. Catherine’s and Grand Place, about 250 tents will open for visitors, where you can buy not only the famous Belgian chocolate, but also all kinds of sweets, festive food, New Year's toys and souvenirs that are brought here from all over Europe.

Christmas market in Brussels

In addition, various festive shows are held, which are interesting not only for children, but also for adults. On the square of St. Catherine, a giant Christmas tree is installed, as well as a Ferris wheel. You can visit the skating rink, which is flooded on the occasion of the fair.
This year Christmas market in Brussels will open on November 30, 2013 and run until January 6, 2014.

Video: Christmas light show at the Grand Place in Brussels

And someone has a tradition to celebrate the New Year and spend New Year holidays in Crimea.
For them, our website has prepared interesting offers for private recreation - apartments, boathouses, apartments, private sector in Alupka and settlements of the South Coast for the New Year.