THE CARNIVAL
The week before Lent begins is called in Flanders _Duivelsweek_, which
means "The Devil's Week"; and on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday
before Ash Wednesday there is the Carnival, so called from the Latin
words _carni vale_ (which mean, as every school-boy knows, "farewell
to the flesh"), because during Lent good Catholics should abjure "the
world, the flesh, and the devil," and refrain from eating meat. In
Ghent the Monday of that week is called _Zotten-Maanday_, or Fools'
Monday, and all over Belgium the next day (Shrove Tuesday in England)
is called _Mardi Gras_--that is, Fat Tuesday--the day on which people
can eat and drink as much as they like before beginning to fast.
During the Carnival people go about the streets in fancy dress,
sometimes with their faces hidden by masks. Often they are dressed as
clowns, and make a great noise, blowing horns, dancing, singing, and
making fools of themselves in every possible way. In the shops bags of
confetti are sold--little bits of coloured paper, like what you see in
England too--which you may throw at other people, whether you know
them or not. The children have often great fun, covering each other
with these bits of paper, which stick in the hair and are very
difficult to shake off. In some of the streets at Brussels the
pavements are carpeted all the time of the Carnival with thousands of
these small pink, yellow, and white fragments, which the people have
been throwing about. Then there are false noses, wigs, and other
disguises, so that you may pass people you know quite well without an
idea who they are. A person may speak to you; you fancy you know the
voice, but a beard, and perhaps a long blue nose, hide the face, and
you are in doubt. A handful of confetti is thrown in your face, and in
a moment the figure is gone and lost in the crowd.
A few years ago there was a Carnival procession in most of the towns,
and then all the huge wickerwork giants were carried about. They all
have names. The Brussels giant is Ommegan. In another town there is,
or was, one called Goliath. There is a very old giant called Lange
Man, or Long Man. He is probably still to be seen at Hasselt, in the
South of Belgium, which was his native place. A good many years ago he
was carried through the streets on a car drawn by four horses, and all
the poor people got soup, which he was supposed to give them in memory
of a famine from which the town had suffered at one time. A good deal
of money is collected for the poor during the Carnival by people who
go about with boxes, into which everyone is expected to put
something.
There are not so many Carnival processions as there used to be, and
within the last two or three years they have been entirely given up in
some places. But the Carnival goes on, with more or less gaiety,
everywhere. There are few towns where masked balls do not take place,
and these usually last all night, so that some of the dancers never go
to bed. During the Carnival most of the public-houses remain open all
night, and there is dancing in them, and a great deal of noise.
The fourth Sunday in Lent is called Mi-Carême, or, in Flemish,
_Half-Vasten_, when the fun of the Carnival is renewed; and on that
day a person like Santa Claus, whom you know in England, makes his
appearance. He is called _De Greef van Half-Fasten_--that is, the
Count of Mi-Carême--and comes to give presents to all good children.
But he is so like Santa Claus that we shall leave him alone in the
meantime, for I shall presently be telling you what Santa Claus does
in Belgium.
There is, however, another Count who does not visit England--the Count
of Nut Land, who rides along with a sack of nuts, which he throws
about for anyone to pick up. Strange to say, cracking these nuts is
supposed to be a cure for toothache! Is not that a funny idea?