Nativity Scenes in Belgium

Saint Nicholas first

This is the key to understanding the nativity’s place in Belgium.

On December 6, Saint Nicholas brings children their presents. He comes with a helper, Père Fouettard (Zwarte Piet in Dutch), whose traditional look has been widely debated in recent years and is changing from region to region and town to town.

As a result, December 25 is a family and religious holiday, less focused on kids and presents than in the United States. The nativity stays closer to its original meaning, and you’re more likely to see one in church than in the living room.

The nativity, kerststal

In Dutch it’s called a kerststal, literally “Christmas stable.” The word puts the focus on the building rather than the manger, and that fits: the Belgian nativity usually centers on the stable and the Holy Family, without the sprawling village of the Provençal tradition. The Dutch use the same word, but the history there is very different: see the nativity in the Netherlands.

What it’s like:

• Simplicity. Few figures, little scenery, often just a wooden stable.
• Wood and straw rather than painted clay.
• Medium to large figures, closer to the German style than the Mediterranean one.
• A strong presence in churches, with large nativity scenes set up for the season.

Wallonia and Brussels

On the French-speaking side, the French influence is clear, and you’ll find santons in some homes, especially in families with ties to the South of France. There’s also a homegrown version from the Ardennes: see Walloon santons.

As in Alsace, the Christmas markets (Liège, Brussels, Namur, Mons and many smaller towns) are where people stock up on figures and supplies.

Several towns in Wallonia put on living nativities or nativity walking trails during Advent.

Walloon santons

Wallonia has its own santons. The story is short and very local, and it’s mostly about one man: Robert Noirhomme, a former schoolteacher from Malempré who settled in Lierneux, in the Ardennes, and opened the Santons de Wallonie workshop.

The method comes from Provence: clay pressed into molds by hand, painted with a brush, about 5 inches tall. Noirhomme learned it from Provençal santon makers, then made it his own. But the characters are all local.

Provence has the ravi, the tambourin player and the Bohemian woman. Wallonia has the region’s old, vanished trades: the miller, the apothecary, the librarian in a gray smock, the stonecutter, the pit sawyer, the bird catcher, the haguette seller of Malmedy, the ploquette seller of Verviers, the herbalist of Bastogne. The animals are local too: Ardennes deer instead of sheep heading to mountain pastures.

Local folklore shows up too, which is rare in nativity scenes: you’ll meet Tchantchès and Nanèsse (Liège’s beloved folk characters), the makralle witch and the Blancs Moussis carnival figures of Stavelot. There are about a hundred and twenty different figures in all. Noirhomme sums it up himself: “My santons always have a connection with the Ardennes and our region.”

That’s what makes these figures special. They don’t copy Provence. They borrow its method to tell a different story: a land of forests and slate, its lost trades and its carnival characters. That’s exactly how the Provençal santon got started in the first place.

Liège also keeps alive something rare in the same spirit: Li Naissance, the Nativity performed with rod puppets at the Musée Tchantchès. The play uses one hundred twenty-nine wooden puppets carved by Denis Bisscheroux. It had dropped out of the repertoire until Henri Libert brought it back in 1967. It’s the same idea as Noirhomme’s: telling the Nativity with local characters and a local accent.

Flanders

The Flemish tradition is closer to the Dutch one: even simpler, more focused on church and the Gospel story, and the wooden kerststal is everywhere.

Flemish painters also created many of the Western world’s best-known images of the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi. You can still see that legacy: here, the great paintings came first and inspired the 3D scenes.

Living nativities and large nativities

Several towns hold living nativities, often put on by a parish or neighborhood with animals and volunteers. They usually run for one or two evenings rather than the whole season. See our page on living nativities.

Many towns also set up a large nativity scene in the main square during Advent, next to the Christmas tree and the market. For places to visit, see where to see nativity scenes in Belgium.

The calendar

• Late November: the Christmas markets open.
• December 6: Saint Nicholas, the big day for kids.
• Advent: the nativity goes up, with an empty stable.
• December 24–25: Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day with family. Baby Jesus is laid in the manger.
• January 6: Epiphany, with the galette des Rois (king cake) on the French-speaking side. In some areas, children dressed as the Three Kings go door to door singing.
• February 2: Candlemas closes the cycle where the custom is kept.