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Stilt jousting is a 600-year-old tradition of the city of
The jousters, called "Les Echasseurs Namurois" (literally "the stilt jousters of Namur") are part of all the major Namur festivals. The joust of the golden stilt is the most important of the year. It is held on the third Sunday of September on the occasion of the Festival of Wallonia. 6,000 to 8,000 people gathered in front of the cathedral to support the fifty or so stilt walkers involved.
Stilt jousting is a 600-year-old tradition of the city of Namur
Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.
Namu ...
, Belgium, in which costumed people on stilts
Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground.
In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...
joust.
The stilt walkers are divided in two teams :
- The “Mélans” joust on yellow and black stilts. They represent the old city
- The “Avresses” joust on red and white stilts. They represent the new city and the suburbs
Both teams use jousting stilts, a type of stilts developed in Namur.
A jouster's aim is to bring down all the jousters from the other team (A fallen stilt walker cannot get back on his stilts).
On December 16, 2021, Unesco has officially registered the Namur tradition of stilt jousting on the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity
UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.Compare: This list is published by the Intergover ...
.
History
The ban of December 8, 1411 is the earliest official document documenting stilt jousting in Namur. The lord of Namur banned the practice for people over 13 years. Over the centuries, jousting on stilts has been at the center of major popular festivals in Namur. The major jousts of the Carnival (17th and 18th centuries) could bring together up to 2000 jousters on stilts. Jousting on stilts was also the welcome gift offered by the people of Namur to distinguished visitors. This explains why great names in history attended a joust on stilts in Namur, including: *Philip the Good
Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...
(1439)
* Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (1515, 1531)
* Phillipe II of Spain (1549)
* Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
of France (1693)
* Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
of Russia (1717)
* Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
Bonaparte (1803)
* The Kings of the Belgians Leopold III, Baudouin, Albert II and Philippe.
Namur stilt jousts nowadays
Jousting on stilts is still practised in Namur.
The jousters, called "Les Echasseurs Namurois" (literally "the stilt jousters of Namur") are part of all the major Namur festivals. The joust of the golden stilt is the most important of the year. It is held on the third Sunday of September on the occasion of the Festival of Wallonia. 6,000 to 8,000 people gathered in front of the cathedral to support the fifty or so stilt walkers involved.
Accolades
2004: Recognized as intangible heritage of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation ("Chef-d'œuvre du patrimoine oral et immatériel de la Communauté Francaise" ) 2016: Walloon merit officer 2021 : Namur stilt jousting registered on theUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity .
References
{{reflist Namur (city) Belgian culture