21 July : Proud to serve!

Get ready for the unusually long weekend arriving: the celebrations for the Belgian National Day will be held on Friday and the theme of this year will be “Proud to Serve”.

If you are not leaving Brussels, check out the celebrations that will be held in the Belgian capital: the civil servants and the militaries will be particularly honoured this year. The theme chosen, in fact, “pays tribute to the men and women who give daily in civilian and military service for Belgium and its people”, a national spokesperson stated.

On Friday, at 10.00 am, both the Belgian King and the Queen will attend the Te Deum service in the St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral, while the Fête au Parc will start at the same time. For this special day, the public institutions will set up some workshops and stands to introduce and explain what they do and to which extent you are subject to their work in the daily life. The police, the army as well as the firemen will be there. The religious institutions will also take part to the event, and many activities for children will be available in Parc Royal.

The yearly traditional military parade will then take place in Place des Palais. More than 1,500 soldiers will be involved in that march, from more than 150 national troops. It will last about 40 minutes, before the civil assistance services hold their own march. All the parades will be over at 17:10.

As usual, the fireworks will be the last event of the National day. They will be discharged from Palais des Académies at 23:00, and the spectators are invited to watch it from Place des palais.