A few years ago there was a Carnival procession in most of the towns,
and then all the huge wickerwork giants were carried about. They all
have names. The Brussels giant is Ommegan. In another town there is,
or was, one called Goliath. There is a very old giant called Lange
Man, or Long Man. He is probably still to be seen at Hasselt, in the
South of Belgium, which was his native place. A good many years ago he
was carried through the streets on a car drawn by four horses, and all
the poor people got soup, which he was supposed to give them in memory
of a famine from which the town had suffered at one time. A good deal
of money is collected for the poor during the Carnival by people who
go about with boxes, into which everyone is expected to put
something.
There are not so many Carnival processions as there used to be, and
within the last two or three years they have been entirely given up in
some places. But the Carnival goes on, with more or less gaiety,
everywhere. There are few towns where masked balls do not take place,
and these usually last all night, so that some of the dancers never go
to bed.
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