Saturday, August 30, 2008

The giants of Le Quesnoy

During my holidays I stayed in the North of France, in what used to be my grandparents'house, which my mum has kept.



The first Sunday, 3rd of August is traditionally the carnival with the Giants in Le Quesnoy (59). There is a long traditon of giants in all the region Nord-Pas de Calais. This is not very well known outside the departement so I thought I would post a few photos.



The town has 2 giants : Pierrot Bimberlot and Maori





























We also saw Penelope, visiting from Villers-Outreaux. She was accompanied by some ladies dancing with their lace shawls.





























We also had Napoleon and his soldiers (sorry for my english readers but he is a heroe in France).































And then a pirate, for the pleasure of all the children present, and some belgian traditonal costumes with wooden shoes and music. He might be called Jean Bart from Dunkerque, according to Anne Bebbington who used to live in Northern France at some point. Thanks Anne.



















All in all we spent a very agreeable afternoon enjoying this local event.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Pascale - we spent six months in Nord Pas de Calais over the winter of 2001/2 and I remember les geants very well but thought they came out for the Mardi Gras carnivals in February - I hadn't realised they also had an outing in the summer months - thank you for reawakening some special memories

Unknown said...

ps the pirate looks very like Jean Bart from Dunkerque :o)