Why did giants from across Flanders dance through a Grembergen neighbourhood?

Around 20 giants from Grembergen and elsewhere in Flanders danced through the streets of the De Molen neighbourhood on Sunday, 16 August, as the annual Prochekermis

For residents, this was first and foremost a neighbourhood celebration rather than a heritage exhibition. The Kermisbestuur Wijk De Molen placed the parade within a free, three-day programme that also included an open-air Mass, a flea market, a musical walk and the Halfoogstprijs junior cycling race. UiTinVlaanderen advertised this as the 27th giants’ parade and expected approximately 20 figures from Grembergen and other parts of Flanders.

That combination explains why the event matters beyond its immediate audience. Reuzencultuur survives only when people continue to build, carry, repair, accompany and watch the figures. The Flemish inventory of intangible heritage describes giants as personifications of local characters, trades, families and neighbourhoods. Rather than being preserved behind glass, they acquire meaning by appearing among the communities whose stories they embody.

Prochekermis retains the vocabulary of an older agricultural calendar. Its harvest theme culminates in the Gouden Oogstworp, or Golden Harvest Throw, during which prizes are distributed. The contemporary programme, however, mixes religious observance, popular entertainment, commerce, cycling and folklore. That flexibility is part of the tradition’s durability: a custom rooted in harvest time can still function as a meeting point for a modern suburban community.

The parade also belongs to a much larger Flemish landscape. Werkplaats immaterieel erfgoed estimates that Flanders has between 800 and 1,000 giants, equivalent to roughly two or three per municipality. Some are historic civic figures that rarely leave their home town; many others represent associations, neighbourhood personalities or local nicknames and travel to gatherings. The organisation says the practice has been included in the Flemish inventory since 2015.

There are two useful ways to read such recognition. Heritage organisations emphasise safeguarding the craft, knowledge and rituals needed to keep the giants alive, especially as groups struggle to find carriers and volunteers. Local organisers frame the same practice more immediately: as a free kermis where giants dance, bands play and neighbours gather. Those positions are not mutually exclusive, but they produce different priorities. Formal recognition protects continuity; community ownership preserves spontaneity.

Dendermonde gives that balance particular weight. The city has its own renowned processional traditions, including the Ros Beiaard and the guild giants of Katuit. UNESCO’s multinational entry for processional giants and dragons covers traditions in Belgian cities including Dendermonde, Brussels, Mechelen and Mons, as well as several French towns. It describes the figures as emblems of local identity that dance through streets with fanfares and costumed participants. The Prochekermis parade should not itself be labelled a separate UNESCO-listed event, but it clearly inhabits the same wider cultural world.

This is therefore a Belgian story with a modest international horizon, not an international crisis requiring an EU response. No intervention from the European institutions was expected, and no specific public reaction from Dendermonde’s political leadership was located in the sources reviewed. The relevant Belgian stakeholders are the Kermisbestuur Wijk De Molen, participating giant groups and music societies, the local community, the City of Dendermonde and Flemish heritage organisations.

What happens next is practical rather than political. The organisers will need to retain volunteers, maintain the figures and prepare another edition if the annual rhythm continues. Grembergen’s wider giants culture also returns during the September fair, for which the City of Dendermonde lists a separate parade of 25 giants on 11 September 2026. The unanswered questions concern the precise participating groups, the verified crowd size and whether the Prochekermis organisers will publish a full account of this year’s edition.