The giants of Leuven

[nwhyte]

I picked up an interesting story in the news yesterday morning: a group of enthusiasts in Leuven had decided to revive / invent an old (or new) tradition, of constructing giants to parade through the streets of the city. Belgium is a place where ancient civic traditions and pagan ceremonies are often rather weirdly linked, and this seemed worth

Comments

[girfan]

I've seen these giants by the side of the road during many cycling races in Belgium and possibly northern France and wondered what they stood for. Now I know. Thanks!

[drplokta]

It happens in England too. It was recently revived in Chester after a hiatus of more than 300 years.

[drasecretcampus]

I saw the Ypres/Ieper cat festival in 1977 that would have had giants, alongside many floats and so forth.

Did the tradition feed into It's A Knockout/Jeux sans frontiere
s?

[nwhyte]

Hmmm, good point!

[drasecretcampus]

Strange Cargo had a project with giants in Herne Bay - although no particular pagan undercurrent: http://www.strangecargo.org.uk/portfolio/consultation/reflect/lily-herne-bay-giant/

[frances_lievens]

Brussels has its giant too! Again it's a foul trick of the inhabitants of Leuven tot take something from us, as they did with the Meiboom. ;-)

[shereenb]

Nice photos. I do like the flower garlands.

I've seen similar giants in Barcelona in September - they have a parade as part of their patron saint's festival. Their giants seem to range from the historical style, to the cartoon style. And there was the just plain weird one that had a woman's body, with bare breasts, but the head of a bird wearing a crown.

They do make for an impressive parade.