TODAY - November 25
NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS
ON: NOVEMBER 25
New edition
TODAY’s LENGTH:
This day is here
in Belgium 8 hours and 1 minute shorter than June 21. Its length is 8 hours and
30 minutes – from 08.16 to 16.46.
See more – also in
English – about where you are on: www.dagenslaengde.dk
TODAY’s NAME:
Today is called CATHARINA’s DAY. It has its name from Catharina, who refused to marry the Roman emperor Maximilian around 300 AD. Therefore, she was put into prison. But in the jail she convinced many other prisoners to become Christians. She was further punished and put on to a wheel with knives. One of the soldiers was killed by a lightning, when he tried to pull her body apart. Her corpse was then removed by angles.
She has given name to the Catharina Monastery in the Sinai desert.
Weather warning: Frost or snow during the night before this day will mean that frost or snow is likely during the coming 18 weeks.
The day’s name in Belgium is
the same: SAINTE CATHARINE.
TODAY’s EVENT:
1992: The Czechoslovak parliament decides to split
the country into two countries from January 1, 1993: The Czech Republic and Slovakia.
TODAY’s QUESTION:
Belgium – what do you know about that country?
A fantastic
country. A different country. A complicated country. They say about Belgian
politics, if you think you understand it, it's because you've got it badly
explained!
It all began in 1830 when the country became independent. It was done by the
citizens in an afternoon’s revolution against the Dutch rulers.
No, it began much earlier. Namely, under Caesar before Christ's birth.
He writes in his diary that "of all
the Celtic tribes, I have fought against the Belgians were the bravest."
He had to give up conquering much of the country. Actually he came to a line
which is only 1 ½ km from our house in Rixensart. This is precisely where the
border between French and Flemish speaking Belgium remains to this day.
Now a bit about the country’s size and
that kind of thing:
Belgium today is exactly the same size as the Danish peninsula Jutland, 30,000
sq.km. And more than 11 million people live here. In Jutland live approx. 1 ½
million. Belgians are divided by 6 million Flemish and almost 5 million
French-speaking. Additionally, you have a small German-speaking minority in the
east. More on this later.
All Belgians (almost) are Catholics. So it's not religion that divides. But
they are not very active practitioners in their religion. Just like most of the
Danes in their church.
There are 3 official languages: French, Flemish (which is almost the same as
the Dutch - but pronounced much softer) and German.
The country has always been in the middle of almost all European conflicts. It
is located midway between the major European powers. And as these countries
sometimes have been on horribly bad terms, it was very often the Belgians who
got badly hurt. Historians have counted over 1000 known wars on Belgian soil.
The area has been under many different rulers: Spaniards, Austrians, French and
Dutch. Yes, even the Danish Vikings were here. Hence come the many geographical
names that are currently ending with -beek ( old viking language for brook).
Spanish influence you see in many ways, not least in the many Belgian
carnevals, often with a Spanish - Latin American “flavour”. And a modern word for a Belgian
cafe-restaurant, Estaminet, also
dates from Spanish times.
Independence came on July 21, 1830. Of course, it is a holiday today. The
French were totally dominant in the country until after World War II. One
reason was that the southern parts of the country – where the French speaking population
lived and still lives - was the strong industrial areas with coal, steel and
other heavy industries. The French language was dominant everywhere. In the
army for example only French was spoken by the officers. This provided a
natural resistance from the Flemings against French speakers. This is part of
the explanation for why some Flemish people went into German service during
World War II. Not so much because they were Nazis. But because they saw it as a
way to fight the French-speaking Walloons.
After the second World War it has gone horribly wrong for many of the
French-speaking areas, especially in the province of Hainaut around Mons. It is
one of Europe's poorest regions. There are families where people have been
unemployed through three generations.
But before all that Napoleon had made a serious visit. Once again, Belgium was
pinned. It was in 1815. The famous battle of Waterloo
about 20 km south of Brussels, was in reality the end of Napoleon and his
dominance in Europe. A total of 72,000 soldiers fell in just three days.
Actually, Napoleon was very close to win over Wellington and his Anglo-Dutch
army. Only when the Prussian General Blücher arrived with his forces in the last
minute the French lost. Blücher actually
came through our garden to the great
surprise of Napoleon. And then it was over. Napoleon had to go to St. Helena in
the south Atlantic. But he continued to be quite popular in Belgium. Major
streets and squares in Brussels are today named after some of his generals -
like Belliard, Froissart and Jourdan.
About a hundred years later it went completely mad again. The first World War
started in 1914 with very large and powerful German troops invading Belgium on
their way into France. The resistance of the Belgians and their allied troops from France and England was so
determined that things went quite differently than the Germans had expected.
The key was that the Belgians managed to open all the locks at the North Sea
coast. Thus, large parts of West Flanders - where the heavy German forces tried
to get through – were flooded. And all the German hardware ran hopelessly stuck
in mud and sludge. Thus arose the front throughout the four-year war in the
western part of Belgium. The Germans kept most of Belgium violently occupied (
shooting thousands of politicians and other civilian Belgians as a warning).
But the front in the west held, and the Belgian Government was throughout the
war based in the small town of Veurne in West Flanders. The fighting along the
front was terrible. There was at one time also used poison gas on both sides.
There are currently 175 war cemeteries in Western Flanders from the time -
Belgian, British, French, German. On the German one can also find fallen Danish
soldiers. They came from Southern Jutland, which after 1864 was German and the
young men were therefore forced to be German soldiers. Approximately 6,000
Danes from that area fell during the war, including some here in Belgium.
In the town of Ypres you can
today visit a modern and very interesting museum. Everyone walks away from
there with some idea of how terrible it was. Life gets another perspective
when you see these atrocities. Incidentally, the town of Ypres was totally
destroyed during the war. It was nicely rebuilt again after the war.
I mentioned earlier that the population of a small portion of Eastern Belgium
speaks German. This is due to the fact that Belgium after World War I was given this German area compensation for
the suffering and the enormous devastation. And although the Germans during the
second World War, the area (called Haute Fagnes / Hohes Venn), became German
again, it has been Belgian again since 1945. It is said that the
German-speaking population there (about 70,000 in total) in today's political
debate in Belgium are the strongest supporters of the country staying together.
A few words specifically about Brussels - Brussel as it is called in Flemish. It
is the nation's capital with all what belongs to a capital. At the same time it
is one of the country’s three regions. The two others are Flanders and
Wallonia. All three have a very large degree of autonomy. It is very few things
that central government is responsible for. An odd angle to this division into
regions is that Flanders also considers Bruxelles / Brussel as its capital. So their regional
parliament and all its ministries are in Brussels. I think it's the only
"country" in the world where its capital is located outside the the
“country” itself. The reason is that the Flemish people think that Brussels is
a part of Flanders. They show this attitude once a year by making a giant bike
race of Flemish people all around the city. Brussels is surrounded by Flanders
on all sides.
Moreover, they say that Brussels is Flemish during the day and French in the
evening. That's because so many Flemings comes to town every day to work and go
home to Flanders in the evening, because that is where they live.
Brussels has about 1 ½ million inhabitants. It’s the size of Copenhagen. It is
for historical reasons, divided into 19 municipalities. The international
flavor is unmistakable. About a third of all residents are not born in Belgium.
The EU institutions are placed in the city. NATO is too. Lots of embassies from around the world are
here, too. Many countries, including Denmark, each have three embassies: one
for the EU, another for NATO, and a third for Belgium as such. And lots of
American and other international companies have their European headquarters in
Brussels. In addition lots of immigrants from Morocco, Turkey and the former
Belgian Congo live in Brussels. All this gives an incredibly exciting
atmosphere with an unprecedented quantity of cultural activities, restaurants
and different people from around the world.
Finally, I want to give the Belgians my very best personal recommendations. .
They are easy-going and friendly - sometimes a little reserved at first,
though. And very helpful, even in the traffic. It is a pleasure to live here
among them. We have not once in our 24 years in this country felt anything but
comfortable. In a way Belgium is also our
country now. Yes, there are things they do differently. In a different way than
we're used to. That's it. That makes it only more interesting and motivating to
be here.
We once heard a totally uninformed and populistic Danish female TV reporter say
on the screen that "Belgium is as interesting as an empty banana
peel!" If the rest of her
journalistic work is equally uninformed and xenophobic she should definately
look for a different job.
Good luck with
Belgium!
And I have even not told you about the more than 450 different beers in this
country! One more exciting than the other. Or about their wonderful food.
People say that when the French really want to eat well, they go to Belgium!
Go out and do likewise!
QUESTION FOR TOMORROW:
Noah’s Ark - what is that? And what is the legend behind it?
47 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EUROPE:
EUROPE AT WORK www.europe-at-work.be
TODAY’s QUOTE & FAMOUS PEOPLE :
1.
Yesterday’s quote:
America is the
only nation in the world, which miraculously has gone from
barbarism to
degeneration without passing the usual step with civilization.
This was once said by the French prime minister during
World War I,
2.
Today’s quote:
It is no shame
to be rich. But it is a shame to die rich.
Who among today’s persons has said that?
3. Famous
people born on this day:
1562: Lope de Vega ( died 1635 )
1835: Andrew Carnegie ( died 1919 )
1881: Pope John XXIII ( died 1963 )
1915: Augusto Pinochet ( died 2006 )
1923: Mauno Koivisto ( died 2017 )
4. Famous
people died on this day:
1686: Niels Steensen ( 48 years )
1907: Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen ( 35 years )
1950: Johannes V. Jensen ( 77 years )
1974: U Thant ( 65 years )
2005: George Best ( 59 years )
Niels Jørgen Thøgersen
Very good reportage about Belgium !
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