The Country-
The Church-
The Need
Belgium-The country
Belgium derives its name from the Belgae, an
ancient Celtic tribe. The Roman region of Gallia
Belgica (Belgian Gaul) included modern Belgium,
northern France, the Netherlands, and part of
Switzerland.
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Belgium
forms the Low, or Benelux, Countries. It is about
282 km (about 175 mi) long, measured in a
southeastern-northwestern direction, about 145 km(about 90 mi) wide,
and is roughly triangular in shape.
The area is 30,519 sq km (11,783 sq mi).
The capital and largest city is Brussels,
located in the center of Belgium.
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The PEOPLE of Belgium
are primarily of two ethnic
groups, the Flemings and the Walloons (although there
is a small german-speaking region as well). The
distinction is also a linguistic one;
the Flemings speak Dutch (formerly known as Flemish),
and the Walloons speak French.
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The predominantly Flemish provinces are in the
northern half of Belgium, called Flanders,
and the predominantly Walloon provinces are in
the southern half, called Wallonia. The capital
of Brussels is mixed. Overall, 56 percent of the
population are Flemings and 34 percent are Walloons.
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The POPULATION of Belgium
(1993 estimate) was 10,040,939. The overall population
density, one of the highest in Europe, was about
329 per sq km (852 per sq mi). The largest concentrations
were in the Brussels, Antwerp, Liege, and Ghent
industrial areas, as well as in the narrow industrial
region between Mons (5 miles from Havré!!!) and Charleroi.
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RELIGION
About 90 percent of the Belgian population is Roman
Catholic, but this number and regular church attendance
are on the decline. There are less than 1% of protestants.
FESTIVALS
play an important part in Belgian life.
One of the most famous festivals is the three-day carnival
at Binche, near Mons, held just before Lent.
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During the carnival, noisemaking and dancing are led by “Gilles,”
men dressed in high, plumed hats and bright costumes.
Another famous pageant is the Procession of the Holy Blood,
held in Bruges in May. December 6 commemorates Saint
Nicholas's Day, an important children's holiday.
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HAVRE
The Havré castle was born out of the renaissance
with the Enghien family in 1423, the Harcourt family
in 1518 and the Cröy family in 1518. It is in the
process of being restored.
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Bon Vouloir is a
small catholic gothic
chapel built on the site of
miraculous appearances of the Virgin Mary. An atmosphere of pagano-religious
superstition reflects the spiritual need of the village.
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Havré has always been an agriculturally based village
with hop-growing, tobacco, flour-mills, breweries.
The Havré woods (about 250 hectares) is only about 5 miles
away from Mons, the university town where there are several
universities, colleges and secondary schools.
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There are about 5000 people who live in with two banks,
a post office and two primary schools. There are about
4 to 5 pubs in the village! We represent five
families from the fellowship who are based in Havré and
have our weekly group in one of the homes.
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You have probably
heard of many of them. Apart from our family, Françoise has
four children (three teenagers), Guy and Muji have four children
(one teenager), Joel and Adrienne have two young children and
Max and Nelly are retired.
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