Ommegang of Brussels

According to legend, the origin of the Ommegang of Brussels goes back to a local devout woman named Beatrijs Soetkens. She had a vision in which the Virgin Mary instructed her to steal the miraculous statue of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw op ‘t Stocxken ("Our Lady on the little stick") in Antwerp, bring it to Brussels, and place it in the chapel of the Crossbowmen's Guild in the Sablon/Zavel district. The woman stole the statue, and through a series of miraculous events, was able to transport it to Brussels by boat in 1348. It was then solemnly placed in the chapel and venerated as the patron of the Guild. The Guild also promised to hold an annual procession, called an Ommegang, in which the statue was carried through Brussels.

Through the following decades, what was originally a religious procession took on gradually a more worldly outlook. The Ommegang of 1549 corresponds to a golden age of the procession. From the mid-16th century, the Ommegang not only celebrated the miraculous legend, but became intertwined with the Joyous Entry of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The Ommegang thus developed into an important religious and civil event in Brussels' annual calendar.[5]

During the second half of the 16th century, the event was dependent on political and religious upheavals in the Spanish Low Countries. Between 1580 and 1585, when the city was in the hands of the Protestants, the procession was simply suppressed. In the 17th century, the event regained its luster, under the reign of the Archdukes Albert VII and Isabella. In the 18th century, the decline of the demonstration began. The last (very small) Ommegang took place in 1785.

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  The Ommegang in Brussels on 31 May 1615. The Triumph of Archduchess Isabella, by Denis van Alsloot
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  The Ommegang in Brussels on 31 May 1615. The Senior Guilds, by Denis van Alsloot
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  The Infanta Isabella shooting the Grand Serment bird with a crossbow at the Sablon during the Ommegang in Brussels of 31 May 1615, by Antoon Sallaert

In 1930, on the occasion of the centenary of the Belgian Revolution, some history enthusiasts supported efforts to commemorate once again the event, in the form of a historical procession. The organisers chose not to revive the ancestral "circumambulation", but to make it a spectacle reproducing the sumptuous Ommegang offered, in 1549, by the city of Brussels to Charles V and his son Philip II. Given the success of this performance, it was decided to repeat it in subsequent years. This was the origin of the current Ommegang.

The current event brings together about 1,400 extras, including several dozen riders dressed in period costumes. There are also stilt walkers and giants such as the archangel Saint Michael, Saint Gudula, and the Bayard horse. Since 2011, a personality from the world of the arts is entrusted, each year, with the role of herald, and comments on the show at the Grand Place. Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Stéphane Bern, Jacques Weber, Francis Huster, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt and Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, for example, have successively lent themselves to the exercise.

Although it has become a historical show, the Ommegang nevertheless preserves many traditional and authentic elements, such as the presence of the Brussels Lineages, the Oaths of Crossbowmen, as well as the Virgin of Victories, and remains a major yearly event in the minds of the people of Brussels.

Since 2019, the Ommegang has been recognised as an expression of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.[2]