The Carnival Parade of Maaseik is Belgium's oldest

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

. The parade takes place yearly on

Laetare Sunday Laetare Sunday (Church Latin: ; Classical Latin: ; English: , , , , ) is the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent, in the Western Christian liturgical calendar. Traditionally, this Sunday has been a day of celebration, within the austere period ...

Maaseik Maaseik (; li, Mezeik) is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg. Both in size (close to 77 km2) and in population (approx. 25,000 inhabitants, of whom some 3,000 non-Belgian), it is the 8th largest municipality in Limburg ...

, in the northeast of Belgium. The first official parade, then called ''Cavalcade'', was in 1865. Except during both World Wars there has been a parade every year since 1865. Since 1949 there has also been a prince carnival in the parade. It is a large parade with groups and floats from all over

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

and

Dutch Limburg Limburg (, ) is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is bordered by Gelderland to the north and by North Brabant to its west. Its long eastern boundary forms the international border with the state of North Rhine-Westph ...

as well as from

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

. The parade goes through the historical city of Maaseik and is about 2,5 km long.

Gallery

Jeugdprinsenwagen Maaseik 2011.JPG, Little Prince wagon 2011 Prinsenwagen Maaseik 2012.jpg, Prince wagon 2012 Jeugdprinsenwagen Maaseik 2012.jpg, Little Prince wagon 2012 Prinsenwagen Maaseik 2013.JPG, Prince wagon 2013 Prinsenwagen_MSK_2014.JPG, Prince wagon 2014 Prinsenwagen_MSK_2015.JPG, Prince wagon 2015 Prinsenwagen2016voor.jpg, Prince wagon 2016, frontview Prinsenwagen2016achter.jpg, Prince wagon 2016, view from behind

Spring (season) events in Belgium {{Belgium-stub