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-class 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 superstition 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.
CHAPTER VIII
PAGEANTS AND PROCESSIONS
The Belgians are very fond of pageants and processions. In each town
there are several, and in all villages at least one, every year.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59