Tournai has many popular festivals, both secular and religious. As well as evoking the traditional festivals of the Catholic calendar, including St Nicholas’s Day, the MuFIm also showcases a number of items relating to local folklore festivals.
In 2022, the Lost Monday (Lundi Perdu) supper was recognised as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, raising the profile of this festival considered to be the “third New Year’s Eve” for the people of Tournai.
Giant figures representing different characters from the city’s historical mythology are brought out every year on the second weekend in September for the Four Processions. Another important element of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Great Procession dedicated to the Virgin Mary has also been held on the second Sunday in September every year since the 11th century.
Carnivals in the town disappeared during the 20th century, but in the 1980s an association of enthusiasts relaunched a carnival that has become a major event, with a variety of customs. These include a procession, the throwing of pichous (bread rolls) from the first floor of the belfry, gatherings of brotherhoods, the creation of costumes, badges and various objects, tributes to the Naiad figure, the election of a king and queen, the burning of the Carnival King and the funeral march.
Fêtes
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