Ommegang

The second was a large, opulent secular participation of the guilds, crafts and chambers of rhetoric, each of which contributed a float to a procession through the streets of Antwerp.

According to legend, the origin of the Ommegang of Brussels goes back to a local devout woman named Beatrijs Soetkens.

She had a vision in which the Virgin Mary instructed her to steal the miraculous statue of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw op 't Stocxken ("Our Lady on the little stick") in Antwerp, bring it to Brussels, and place it in the chapel of the Crossbowmen's Guild in the Sablon/Zavel district.

The Ommegang element evolved from the annual procession around the city walls held since 1330 as a token of gratitude to Mechelen's patron Saint Rumbold who 'miraculously' ended a siege.

An Ommegang is held every twenty-five years to commemorate the transfer of the relics of Saints Herlindis and Relindis from the Sint-Anna Church in Aldeneik to Sint-Catharinakerk in Maaseik.