Last weekend East-Belgium hosted the "Burgfeuer-Sonntag", a symbolic event where winter is burnt off to make way for spring and summer. These kind of traditions are still very strong in the east of Belgium. They show the strong influence that we have from Germany.

The "Burgfeuer" - the literal translation means "castle fire" - is a huge pile of wood in different shapes. Some of the piles are narrow and others are more broad and rise up to 15 metres into the sky. They are built from the Christmas trees which are collected the day before the fire is lit and also from the large forests surrounding the villages and towns. Usually, young boys or the local bachelors club are in charge of getting the necessary stack of material ready for the big night.

The boys built the Burgfeuer on Saturday and they stay for the night to protect it: stopping people from rival communities who sometimes try to set fire to the Burgfeuer before Sunday evening. On top of the bonfire, the revellers put a doll of a witch which represents winter. It is filled with explosives so that Sunday evening the dolls bursts into flames when the pile is burnt down. The local volunteer fire brigade is always present to instruct the boys how to burn the Burgfeuer.

This also marks the end of the Carnival holidays. The next morning the children have to go back to school.

In Belgium, school is free and obligatory for all children up to the age of 18. Schooling usally starts at the age of 2.5, although there are currently talks to raise this to 3 years. All kids go to kindergarten for three years. After that there are 6 years of primary school. In primary school, children are thaught in reading and writing, maths, geography and languages. When I was in first year of primary school, we already started to learn french as a second language. Primary schools are public schools usually under control of the local community or the regional government.

After completing at least 6 years of primary school, children move on to secondary school also called high schools. Secondary schools are under authority of the church or the government. All schools are public. I used to go to a catholic secondary school. There is no large difference between catholic and government schools. Some people say that government schools are easier because they have to accept students from all levels and backgrounds. In secondary school I learned two additional languages, Dutch and English. Now, I'm able to communicate in all 3 official Belgian languages as well as in (Aussie) English.

Secondary school starts at 8:10 in the morning and finishes around 16:00 in the afternoon. Wednesday afternoons are free, so you have some time to catch up on that homework. When I went to Reynella East High School in South Australia, I always had to change rooms for each lesson. In Belgium, usually the teachers change rooms and we only had to go to a different building for such lessons as chemistry, geography, computer science,... - having 12-14 different subjects is not uncommon in Belgian schools.

For those students who don't like to go to school until they are 18, there is still a way out: they can start an apprenticeship when they turn 16 or when they have finished year 3 of high school. The is a catch 22, though: they have to go to a specialized school for a couple of hours a week. Please note, in primary school, we talk about "schoolyear" 1 to 6 and in secondary school we say "year" 1 to 6.

There is still life after high school. Some say, life only starts after high school. If you like, you can continue your studies at university or college. At university, you are just a number and nobody checks if you attend your lessons or not. Also the level of eduction is very unpersonal and there is a lot (read too much) of material to study. Studies at university last at least 4 years. But for some directions they last as many as 13 years, e.g. medecin.

Colleges are smaller and class attendance is mostly required. The interaction between the teachers and the students is better and teachers sometimes even try to take into account the students' needs. In higher eduction, students have less subjects but are more specialized in the field that they've chosen.

Belgian university and college students are infamous for their parties and student initiations - also called student baptism. No one is obliged to be initiated although some people recommend this to meet more people and to get better help from fellow students during the hard times. When I had my initiation, I had a lot of fun, although the scene looked more like one from a horror movie: All freshmen were in baders. Those who didn't behave were crucified and filled with beer, and there was a bathtub full of beer and cow blood where the final baptism took place.

There were lots of different drinking and eating games, ranging from dog food to raw eggs and lots of beer. Yes, it sounds very disgusting for outsiders and it probably was, but it really was a lot of fun. We had to learn Latin, German and French student chants, be a slave for our "counsellor",... The best part is always the year after, when you are allowed to see the baptism of the new freshmen and you may have your own freshman...

It must really seem to you that we Belgians can't party without grog. This is probably true, but there are also initiatives and laws which prevent people from driving while under the influence of alcohol. There is a law-enforced limit of 0.5 promille (per thousand). This means after 2-3 beers you are not allowed to drive any more.

However as with all laws, people sometimes know how to get around them. In this case this is quite bad because a lot of accidents are happening on weekends because of alcohol. There is now a nationwide non-profit organisation called "Responsible Young Drivers" which teaches young people to be responible drivers, not to take any risks while driving and not to drive under the influence of alcohol.

That's all folks! (At least for this week)

Joe Buff

joe@buff.euregio.net

Don't drink and drive - because you might spill your drink