Giants of Ath

Today we went to the parade in Ath for their Festival of Giants. http://www.shape2day.com/giants.aspx The region of Belgium that we live in has some great Giant folklore, and their multi-day festival celebrates it. We went for the parade today, that is more secular. There is also a religious one in the afternoon and there was the fight of David and Goliath yesterday.
Ath is very close to us, and we figured that this would be a family friendly environment compared to some other festivals that are more popular with the high school/college/young soldier crowd. It was just spectacular. It "started" about 15 minutes late, and took quite a long time. There were about 8 giants in the parade, each had a float accompanying it and its own band. Not a huge parade by any stretch, but not in a hurry either. We were there for almost 2.5 hours and walked to the end of the parade route so we could see the end of it. The last giant was a horse, probably 15 feet at its back, and 4 young kids, kindergarten age, were riding atop of it, as it spun around and danced. So awesome. That was the best part of the parade, that and all the cute elderly people in the bands.
I was amazed at the bands, ages ranging from 5-85 and many marching in wooden shoes. One band was made up entirely of people over 65 at the youngest. They were great. They played many songs that the crowd knew, and one that we did, Roll Out the Barrel. Everyone was having a great time listening to them, and even though the parade route was slow, they looked like they were enjoying themselves as well. A few of the bands had young kids playing, it had to be a very long day for them, carrying around their instruments. They looked much more exhausted than their 80 year old counterparts.
After we walked to the end to see the last of the parade, we went in search of where the fabulous smells were coming from. For an hour or so, we were smelling grilled sausages or onions or something wonderful. My fear, since we've been here, is eating horse. That was in my mind as we went looking for the smells, "Please don't let it be cheval." Nope, plain old sausage, with grilled onions and sauerkraut. The meat is good, but then they serve it in these great buns, almost like a baguette. The ketchup is also spectacular, like real squeezed tomatoes. None of the artificial taste like ours. Of course, what would any gather of Belgians be without beer? Actually, I will probably fall down in amazement if we ever go to any Belgian anything without beer. It's the beverage you have with lunch and dinner, of course you have to have it at a parade at 10:00am on a Sunday.
The Festival of Giants d'Ath was amazing. I will gladly go again next year, unless it interferes with the other huge festival in the area, Tanks in Town. THAT will be a MUST next year. Dad and Son want to ride on the tanks!