Peeps At Many Lands: Belgium Part 2

Last of all are the artisans and working-cla.s.s people.

It is about the children of the _bonne bourgeoisie_ that I am going to speak, for they are a very numerous cla.s.s, and their customs are in many respects the same as those of most Belgians.

When a child is born, the parents should send to all their friends a box of _dragees_--that is, sugared almonds or sugar-plums. If the child is a boy, the box is tied with pink ribbons; and if it is a girl, with blue. Cards announcing the birth of a child are often sent nowadays, but the real old Belgian fashion is to send the _dragees_, and it is a great pity that people are giving it up so much.

The next thing is to find a name for the child, and that is done by the G.o.dmother, who either chooses some family name or calls the child after its patron saint--that is to say, the saint on whose day it was born--for in Belgium, as in all Catholic countries, each day is dedicated to some saint. The commonest name, however, for girls is Marie, a name given in honour of the Virgin Mary, to whom many baby girls are devoted from their birth. The mothers of these little girls vow never to dress them in anything but blue and white till they are seven years old. When the baby is baptized, the G.o.dfather gives a pair of gloves to the mother and the G.o.dmother. Curiously enough, most Belgian parents would rather have a baby girl than a boy, because a boy costs more to educate, and also because boys, when they grow up, have to draw lots for service in the army, and almost every father who can afford it buys his son off, and that costs money.

There is no nursery life such as we have in England--at least, in very few Belgian families. Here again money is grudged. People who will pay high wages for a good cook hire young girls of fourteen or fifteen to look after their children, and these _bonnes_, as they are called, are paid very little, and are often careless and stupid. The result is that the children are constantly with their parents, and, to keep them quiet, are dreadfully spoilt and petted. It very often happens that, when a Belgian lady has a friend calling on her, young children, who ought to be in a nursery, are playing in the drawing-room. Their mother has no control over them, and if she ventures to tell them to keep quiet, or to run away, they don't obey her, and then she gives in, and lets them have their own way.

Another thing which follows from this want of nursery training is that if, as sometimes happens, there are disputes between the parents, the children are mixed up in them. You will hear a Belgian mother say to her young daughter: "Imagine what your father has done!" Or if the husband is angry with his wife, he will turn to his boy, and exclaim: "That is just like a woman!" Of course, this is very bad for the children, who hear a great deal which they would know nothing about if they were not always with their parents.

From being so much with older people these children get strange ideas.

I know a lady who said to a small Belgian girl, who was an only child: "Would you like a little brother or sister to play with?" "Oh! no, no," replied the child, "because when my father and mother die, I shall have all their money." Whereupon the mother exclaimed: "There!

the dear child; how well she knows the world already!"

The children of the _pet.i.te bourgeoisie_ are the most unruly. One sees them often at the various holiday places, at the seaside or in the Ardennes, where they dine, however young, along with their parents at the _tables d'hote_, or public dining-tables, of the hotels. They eat untidily, spill their soup, throw bread at each other, upset their tumblers of beer or wine (for they are allowed to have whatever their parents are drinking), talk at the top of their voices, and really make such a row that the older people can't hear each other speaking.

The moment they have had as much food as they want, they jump up, push their chairs noisily aside, and begin to chase each other round the room. Their parents never think of stopping them, and care nothing about the annoyance such unmannerly behaviour causes. It is curious how few Belgians, old or young, rich or poor, consider the feelings or convenience of others. They are intensely selfish, and this is doubtless caused by the way in which they are brought up.

As you know, parents in England are forced by law to send their children to school, or have them taught privately. There is no such law in Belgium, and parents, if they like, may leave their children without any education. The number, however, of those who do not go to school is gradually decreasing, and most children get lessons of some sort or another.

No religious instruction is given in Belgian schools, except in convent schools, or in those where the teachers are entirely under the Church. But almost all children have to learn the Catechism at home.

They need not understand it, but they must be able to repeat the words. This is to prepare them for their _Premiere Communion_, or first Communion, to which they go when they are eleven or twelve years old. It takes place two Sundays before Easter Day.

The custom is for all members of the family to wear new clothes on the day of a _Premiere Communion_, but the child's dress is the important thing. In Belgian towns, for some time before, the windows of the shops in which articles of dress are sold are full of gloves, stockings, ties, and other things marked "_Premiere Communion_." A boy's dress is not much trouble. He wears black trousers, a black jacket, and white gloves and tie. But great thought is given to seeing that a girl looks well in her white dress, and other nice new things.

She thinks and talks of nothing but her clothes for ever so long before, and especially of her "corsets," which she then puts on for the first time. Her mother takes her to the shop to try them on, and is at much pains to make her waist as slender as possible. "Can't you pull them a little tighter?" she will say to the shopwoman. The girl has tight new shoes to make her feet look as small as possible; the _coiffeur_ dresses her hair; and she is very proud of her appearance when, squeezed into proper shape and decked out in her new clothes, she sets off to church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE HoTEL DE VILLE, BRUSSELS.]

The children are confirmed on the Monday, the day after their first Communion, and are then taken to visit the friends of the family to be shown off, and to receive presents. The windows of the confectioners'

shops are full of little white sugar images of boys and girls saying their prayers, and even the poorest people manage to have a feast of some sort on this occasion. They often beg money for the purpose. It is, of course, difficult for parents who are poor to buy new clothes.

But any little gifts of money which a child may receive are taken and h.o.a.rded up to be spent on its first Communion.

All Belgian children, even those whose parents are not Catholics, go, with scarcely an exception, to first Communion, and are confirmed, for there may be relatives with money to leave, and they must not be displeased.

The _Premiere Communion_ is the chief event in the life of a Belgian child.

CHAPTER VI

CHRISTMAS IN BELGIUM

Christmas is not kept in Belgium in the same way as in England, Germany, and other countries. There are special services in church, but no Christmas-trees, Christmas presents, or family dinner-parties.

This was not always so, and some traces still remain in different parts of the old customs which used to be observed in Belgium. The ancient Belgians had a festival at mid-winter, and when they were converted to Christianity they continued to use a good many of their old rites at that season of the year, and the few very old Christmas customs which survive really began when Belgium was a pagan or heathen land.

Some of these customs are rather curious. In the Valley of the Meuse the pagans used to feast on the flesh of wild boars at their mid-winter banquets, and now the people of Namur have roast pork for dinner on Christmas Day. The _pet.i.te bourgeoisie_ of Brussels often eat chestnuts on that day--an old usage handed down from the days when the Germans ate acorns--and think they can find out what is going to happen in the future by burning them. For instance, a young man and woman who are engaged to be married throw two nuts into the fire. If they burn peacefully, the marriage will be happy; if they crack and jump away from each other, it will be unhappy. If a candle or lamp goes out suddenly on Christmas Eve, it is believed that someone in the room will die soon. Another sign of death is if you throw salt on the floor and it melts. In some places candles are burnt all night to scare away evil spirits. Another custom is to go into orchards, and strike with an axe trees which have not been fruitful. This, it is thought, will make them bear next year.

There are many other superst.i.tions like these which can be traced back to heathen times, but are now mixed up with the rites of Christian worship. One strange superst.i.tion, which a few old peasants still have, is that when the clock strikes twelve on Christmas Eve all the water in the house may turn into wine. This comes down, no doubt, from early Christian times.

In some Belgian towns the children of the poor go round on Christmas Eve, from house to house, singing, and asking for bread, fruit, or nuts. One of their favourite songs begins:

"Blyden nacht, O blyden nacht! Messias is geboren!"

That is Flemish, their language, and it means: "Happy night, oh, happy night! The Messiah is born." Another song begins: "Een Kindeken is ons geboren," which is the same as "Unto us a Child is born."

Good children, who have said their prayers every night, expect to find under their pillows on Christmas morning a cake, or rather a bun, which is called an _engelskoek_, or angel's cake, which the Archangel Gabriel is supposed to have brought during the night to reward them.

Naughty children find nothing. In some places the children are told that it is the _pet.i.t Jesus_ (the little child Jesus), who puts the bun under their pillows.

In many churches, but by no means in all, there is a midnight service, at which there is a manger surrounded by wax candles, with an image of the Holy Child in it. But this late service was so often made an excuse for going to public-houses, and drinking too much, that the hour has been changed, in most places, to five in the morning. The custom of having shrines, with a manger and candles, known as "Bethlehems," is, however, common, even in private houses.

On Christmas Day in Flanders people wish each other "A Merry Christmas," just as they do in England; and many parents of the upper cla.s.ses send their children, in charge of a servant, to visit their relatives, from whom they may receive some small gifts.

But Christmas Day is not the same, in the way of presents and merry-making, as it is in England.

CHAPTER VII

NEW YEAR'S DAY

New Year's Day is a great day in Belgium.

December 31, the last day of the old year, is dedicated to St.

Sylvester, and there is a custom, at least in Antwerp, that the child who gets out of bed last is called a "Sylvester," and must give the best of its toys to its brothers and sisters. If one of the older girls in a family does not finish any sewing or fancy-work she may have on hand by the end of the day, she is afraid of being haunted by evil spirits. Some people say that a young woman who does not finish her work before sunset has no chance of being married for a year. So they all get their various tasks done, and the last night of the year is spent in amus.e.m.e.nt. The whole family, children and all, sit up till midnight, singing, reciting, or playing games till the clock strikes twelve, when they all kiss each other, and give wishes for "A Happy New Year."

In the big towns, however, many of the _pet.i.te bourgeoisie_ do not "bring in the New Year" at home, and the restaurants and cafes are crowded till twelve o'clock, when healths are drunk, and there is cheering and singing, which are continued in the streets when the people are going home; and there is a great deal of noise for a long time after all the cafes are closed.

It used to be the fashion to fire guns at midnight on New Year's Eve, but that is not common now except in one part of Belgium, called Limburg, where any girl who has a lover expects him to fire off shots in front of her window. The more shots he fires the more she thinks he loves her, and to reward him she ought to hide a bottle of gin in some corner outside the house, from which he can drink her health.

Mischievous young men, however, sometimes find the bottle, and drink the gin before the lover comes, and so the girl often waits till she hears the shots, and then lowers the bottle by a string from the window. This funny custom, like many others, is now going out of fashion.

On New Year's Day all Belgians call on their friends to wish them "A Happy New Year," when they are offered wine, sweetmeats, and things of that sort. This paying of visits on New Year's Day goes on to such an extent in Belgian towns that people who have many friends spend almost the whole day in walking or driving about from one house to another.

As everyone is doing the same thing, of course a great many people are not at home when their friends come, and so the hall-table of nearly every house is covered with calling-cards before evening. The servants have almost nothing to do all day but answer the door-bell, which is constantly ringing.

In some towns, Antwerp among others, it is supposed to be quite allowable for grown-up people, ladies and gentlemen, to kiss anyone they know on New Year's Day. A Belgian lady once told me that it brought good luck to kiss an officer of the army; but, of course, there are limits to this, as there are to kissing under the mistletoe in England.

In the country parts of South Belgium it is the custom to try to be the first to call out "Good New Year" when you meet a friend. If you say it first you have something given you. The children try to surprise their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and all the friends of the family in this way. They get up early, and hide themselves, so as to be able to jump out suddenly, and say "_Een Zalig Nieuwjahr_," which means "A Good New Year." All day long they go on doing it, and are never tired of telling each other about the tricks they have thought of to _vera.s.sen_, as it is called, the older people, who must give them gingerbread or sugar-plums as the penalty for being surprised in this way.

On New Year's Day in Belgium it is not only your friends who stop you in the street or call at your house. Every man, woman, boy, or girl who has done any work for you, and often those who have done nothing, expect to get something. They are very greedy. Railway-porters who have once brought a box to your house, ring your bell and beg.

Telegraph-boys, scavengers paid by the town, bell-ringers, policemen, shop-boys, everyone comes bowing and sc.r.a.ping, and men who in England would be ashamed to take a "tip" will touch their hats, and hold out their hands for a few pence. They don't wait to be offered money; they ask for it, like common street-beggars asking alms.

January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, is known in Flanders as _Groot Nieuwjahr_ ("Great New Year"), and is kept to some extent by the working-people in the same way as the first day of the year. Mondays are always idle days with working-men in Belgium, and the first Monday after Epiphany is the idlest of them all. It is called _Verloren Maandag_, or, in French, _Lundi Perdu_, which means "Lost Monday,"

because no one does any work. The day is spent going about asking for money, and at night there is a great deal of drinking. On one of these Mondays not long ago some drunken troopers of a cavalry regiment stabbed the keeper of a village public-house near Bruges, broke his furniture to pieces, and kept the villagers in a state of terror for some hours.

One very bad thing about the lower-cla.s.s Belgians is that when they drink, and begin to quarrel, they use knives, and wound or kill those who have offended them. By a curious superst.i.tion it is thought unlucky to work on Lost Monday, so the people get drunk, and more crimes of violence are committed on that day than at any other time of the year.