Red Cathedral

Every 7 years over 10% of the population in the oldest city in Belgium participates in a week of reenactments, processions & after dark shows, all dedicated to the biblical Mary. ( Background story ) and they're aged between 89 years and 1 month old. In 2023, for the 19th edition since 1890 , there are over 3000 participants and they attracted 65000 spectators on the 1st day. 3 More days to go, I said after that 1st Sunday You can just feel a symbiotic connection, some strange form of unity between the citizens. Yes, it's a religious evocation of biblical stories and many participate out of pure heartfelt beliefs, but it's also more than that. It trancends simple religious zealousness both as a spectacle and as a way to create bridges & forge bonds between the citizens. The final day still lured over 50000 visitors to the town ( a day during which it was live-streamed ànd most events for that day were cancelled due to a code red storm warning ) Very impressive...

If you have any knowledge of European languages you'll recognize " Ciao " as an Italian word and if you don't then you know it now. The Belgian province of Limburg has a huge Italian community. Around 1910 almost 4500 Italians lived and worked in Belgium. A number that rose to 33000 around 1931, before the second world war. After that war Belgium had a huge problem finding miners so in 1946 a treaty was signed between Italy and Belgium to exchange Italian miners for Belgian coal. Between 1948 and 1955 over a 100.000 workers and their families moved from the warm Mediterranean to the much colder Belgium. It must be said they often had less than desirable living and working conditions. Many even had to stay in the old camps for war prisoners that were dire reminders of WWII. One of the moments in recent time Belgium should be ashamed of. . This mass exodus towards Belgium ended in 1956 after a disaster happened in the Marcinelle coal mine, killing 262 miners, ...

Ook in Tongeren wonen er mensen met een goede muzieksmaak. Uiteraard is " goed " extreem subjectief en steevast hetgeen je zelf graag hoort. Net iets alternatiever in mijn geval .  Iedere zomer heeft Tongeren het Stadsmuzikantenfestival . Singer-songwriters, dus softer, maar wel verbazend vaak net-iets-alternatievere bands die me een fijne namiddag bezorgen. Op de grote markt zijn soms optredens, maar in de afgelopen 5 jaar had ik er slechts eentje meegepikt dat voor mij in de juiste richting zat. ( Een jonge coverband trouwens ). Net zoals de South of Heaven in Bilzen is er ook een metal café in Tongeren, de Pumpkes , waar je al eens een metalband live kan zien. En nee; helaas geen pagan-viking sounds . ( Gelukkig passeert PaganFest volgende maand in Liège .) Wat er echter volledig ontbrak in Tongeren was underground rock. Noise met snelle guitaren. Garagerock, punk, hardcore, stoner, .. Gelukkig ontdekte ik dit najaar Off Track , een vzw die zulke underground optre...

Since I was still processing the images from the O-Parade , I really did not go to Ciao Tongeren to make photos. I did however take the tiny Sony FX3 cinema camera because I had to test a reported audio-issue.. if I had the time, because my focus would lie 100% on enjoying nice wine and tasty food. Normally all music during this event is: old Italian chanson. But what did I suddenly hear while having a limoncello at Ambishop? Music to my taste? Rock à la Willy Radio ? The concrete minds ! A bunch of promising young hounds with the rock 'n roll attitude of old wolves playing gritty hits at The Pub.. I always say: support you local artists . So I had to make a few shots. Luckily this FX3 cinema camera also shoots stills. And luckily The Pub served some rather decent wine to make me even happier. A short video of the band performing: on Clapper To the people who posed for the camera at Buonissimo & Olio Vino: the images are in the gallery.. and the fruity rosé was delicious! ...

Tongeren looks at its best when the entire city is celebrating . Carnaval is on the shortlist of highlight events. So eventhough I was still completely exhausted from the wonderful masked ball Ensor Danst in Alden Biesen the night before, had only slept 4 hours and my aching back was killing me, I hopped.. well rather: crawled .. on my electric step so I would not miss the big carnaval parade in the city center. An image gallery : This year I stayed on the sidelines instead of jumping into the parade and shoot portraits like last year . So that's different. What's also different were the antique Carnaval Giants leading the parade. They had been lost for decades and after being recovered the team from Mario's delicious ice-cream parlor restored them. Kudos to that restauration team! If I'm feeling better & more alive next year, I'll be once again in the middle of the action.. the way I like it. ▷ All photos can be found on/downloaded from my Flickr...