this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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The night before December 6th, children leaves their shoes on front of the chimney, along with a glass of milk and a carrot for Saint-Nicholas and his donkey (other countries say it's a horse, but it's a donkey for us).
Saint-Nicholas leaves a bunch (like, a lot) of candy and toys during the night for children to find when they wake up.
Traditional treats include speculoos, chocolate coins, nuts, clementines and "guimauve" (like marshmallows but a little less soft, in the shape of clogs or religious figures, sometimes chocolate-covered).
Also, on Easter, children will find eggs in their backyard. They are dropped by "the bells". The story is that the bells of Rome fly across Europe and drop eggs along the way (see this postcard). So when the children are done finding all the eggs, they shout "THANK YOU BELLS".
Belgium
Your country is my favorite in all of Europe. I definitely wanna spend the rest of my life over there.
Everyone who thinks this is a bad idea, get your downvotes ready.
Well we do have the 'index' mechanism: all paychecks and wellfare adjust magically and automatically when stuff in shops gets more expensive. There's worse places to live, I guess.
Good to know.
Good to know.
I've heard a lot of opinions about Belgium, but never that it was someone's favorite place. That's really nice to hear :)
^Is ^it ^the ^chocolate? ^Did ^we ^win ^you ^over ^with ^the ^chocolate?
Belgian chocolate really is delicious. Although if I say that it's the best chocolate, the Swiss people are gonna raid my house.
Let's just say that Switzerland and Belgium are tied for having the best chocolate.
But in all honesty, many countries in Europe have the simple "one ethnicity, one language" at least for the most part. For example, in Germany there are Germans who speak German. In Estonia there are Estonians who speak Estonian. Minor ethnic communities and languages certainly exist in these places, but that's what they are; minor. They don't influence the country they live in that much.
Switzerland does have a linguistic divide, but this is all for the sake of neutrality, and nobody really identifies as anything other than Swiss. Belgium on the other hand is a political mess where everything is essentially split between French and Dutch, everyone identifies as Belgian AND as Walloon/Flemish, sometimes only one and sometimes only the other, but mostly both. And then there's Brussels, where both sides have control. No other country has the balls to do something like this, and I love Belgium because of it, it kinda makes it unique in a way.
I know that for some, Belgium sucks because of this, but I'm a weird person who likes weird things. Everything is so fun when you decide to spice up the way the country is run.
Here in Mexico and some parts of LATAM we celebrate Dรญa de los Reyes Magos which is a recalling of the Three Kings visiting baby Jesus, bearing gifts on Jan 6th.
Kids are also supposed to leave their shoes under the Xmas tree and in then when they wake up in the morning, there are some candies and sometimes gifts inside them.
We also cut a big, circular bread called "Rosca de Reyes" that has some small plastic baby Jesus inside, if you are cutting your slice and you get a baby Jesus, you have to buy the tamales for the Feb 2nd celebration, Dรญa de la Candelaria.
While the plastic baby Jesus is supposed to be held with respect because catholicism and stuff, a lot of kids normally throw it away, play with it or sometimes burn it, sometimes you are cutting your slice and you "accidentally" cut thru it too.
Moms and grandmas have a chancla nearby for enforcing peace.
I thought this would be Dominic the Donkey
Okay but I friggen love the candied klompen. Definitely gonna have to grab a few if I ever get a chance to visit Belgium!