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Religious festival · Mons
On Trinity weekend, Mons carries the relic of Saint Waltrude on a gilded carriage through the streets and stages the Lumeçon, Saint George’s fight with the dragon, on the Grand-Place.
In the photo: Mons
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Ducasse de Mons (Doudou) — Mons
On the weekend of the Holy Trinity, the Sunday after Pentecost, between May and June, depending on the date of Easter.
May/June
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
The Ducasse de Mons, known as Doudou because of the song that accompanies the whole festival, combines a religious procession and a staged combat. The annual procession on Trinity Sunday has been recorded since the 14th century, linked to the city’s patron saint, Saint Waltrude (Sainte Waudru). In 2005 UNESCO recognized the ducasse as part of a group of Belgian and French festivals of processionary giants and dragons.
On Saturday evening, the reliquary with the saint’s relics is lowered from the top of the Collégiale Sainte-Waudru in a solemn ceremony. On Sunday morning the reliquary is placed on the Car d’Or, an 18th-century gilded carriage, and travels the streets in a procession with confraternities, historical groups and Saint George on horseback. At the end, the carriage must climb the collegiate’s ramp in a single attempt, pulled by horses and pushed by the crowd: tradition says that if it stops, the town will have bad luck.
In the early afternoon, the Grand-Place becomes an arena for the combat called the Lumeçon. Saint George and his allies face the dragon, the Biète, whose tail spins over the public. Whoever manages to pull a strand of mane from the tail keeps it as a lucky charm for the year. Everything happens to the sound of the Doudou, sung nonstop by the crowd until Saint George’s victory.
In the following days there is the popular ducasse, with a fair, concerts and bars around the town, and on the following Sunday the Petit Lumeçon, a children’s version. The Musée du Doudou, next to the Grand-Place, tells the story of the festival all year round.
The lowering of Saint Waltrude’s reliquary in the collegiate on Saturday evening. The Car d’Or procession and the collegiate ramp ascent on Sunday morning. The Lumeçon combat on the Grand-Place in the early afternoon on Sunday.
For the Lumeçon, the Grand-Place fills up early; those who want a close view arrive hours before, and there are reserved spots in stands and windows. Watching the ramp ascent and then running to the square is difficult: choose one of the two moments. Go by train, because the center is closed to cars. The Musée du Doudou helps to understand the ritual before the festival.
Mons has limited accommodation for Trinity weekend; book well in advance or stay in Brussels and take the train on the day. Check the program published by the city, which changes some details each year.
In the city
May/June
MayEvery three years, on the second Sunday in May. · Every three years
Every three years, on the second Sunday in May, Ypres celebrates cats with the Kattenstoet, a parade of floats, giants and costumes that culminates with the town jester throwing stuffed cats from the Lakenhalle bell tower.
May/JuneOn Ascension Day, a Thursday forty days after Easter, in May or early June.
On Ascension Day, the relic of the Holy Blood is carried out of the basilica on Burg Square and processes through Bruges’ medieval centre in a parade with biblical scenes, singing, music and horses, an intangible UNESCO heritage event.
June/JulyOver two nights between late June and early July.
On two early-summer nights, the Ommegang brings hundreds of participants in 16th-century costumes from the Sablon to Brussels’ Grand-Place, recreating the celebration held for Emperor Charles V in 1549.
Your questions
On the weekend of the Holy Trinity, the Sunday after Pentecost, between May and June. The main day is Sunday, with the morning procession and the Lumeçon in the early afternoon.
It is the staged combat between Saint George and the dragon on Mons’s Grand-Place, on the Sunday of the ducasse. The public tries to pull strands of mane from the dragon’s tail, kept as lucky charms.
The name comes from the Doudou song, played and sung by the crowd during the procession and the combat.
Festivals and events in Belgium
June/JulyFor four days, from Thursday to Sunday, on the weekend that closes June or opens July.
Rock Werchter brings together rock, pop, indie and electronic music over four days at Festivalpark in Werchter, in the municipality of Rotselaar, near Leuven, at the start of summer.
February/MarchFrom Carnival Sunday to Shrove Tuesday, the three days before Ash Wednesday, in February or March depending on the date of Easter.
The Binche carnival, in the province of Hainaut, culminates on Shrove Tuesday with the Gilles, figures wearing wax masks and ostrich-feather hats who dance through the streets to the sound of drums and throw oranges to the crowd.
February/MarchFrom Saturday to midnight on Fat Tuesday, before the start of Lent, in February or March, depending on the date of Easter.
The Cwarmê is Malmedy’s carnival, in the Ardennes: four days when masked figures such as the Haguètes take to the streets, everything is spoken and sung in Walloon, up to the burning of the Haguète on the final night.
March/AprilOn Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter, in March or early April; from Saturday to Monday.
Three weeks before Easter, Stavelot celebrates Laetare with the Blancs Moussis, figures dressed in white with long red-nosed masks who go through the town throwing confetti at the crowd.
JulyIn July, usually in the second half of the month, over several days depending on each edition's format.
The Francofolies de Spa take over the center of the spa town in July, with francophone music concerts on outdoor stages in the Parc de Sept Heures and in venues such as the Casino.
JulyFor ten days in July, including Belgium’s national holiday on July 21.
For ten days in July, the Gentse Feesten spread concerts, street theatre, puppetry and bars across the squares and quays of Ghent’s historic centre.