Medieval Booker

Medieval festivals in Belgium

3 medieval festivals in Belgium with dates for 2026–2027 — where they happen, when, and how to choose.

Belgium does processions rather than battlefields, and the townspeople still stage them. The Ommegang of Brussels fills the Grand-Place on the Wednesday and Friday evenings of the first week of July with giants, stilt-walkers and more than a thousand people in costume; it restages Charles V’s entry into the city but descends from a crossbowmen’s guild procession of 1348. Watching it arrive through the streets is free; a seat on the square is not. In Bruges the Procession of the Holy Blood walks the relic through the centre every Ascension Day, a Thursday that moves with Easter, in a pageant that starts at Genesis and ends with the relic. The centre is closed to traffic and full by late morning.

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3 festivals, upcoming first

March 2027

  • Music, Feasts & Theatre Fantasy Fairs & Spectacles

    Trolls & Légendes

    Mons, Belgium

    Trolls & Légendes is Belgium's fantasy festival, held every two years over the Easter weekend at Lotto Mons Expo: three days of folk and fantasy-metal concerts, a book and comics fair with international authors, a craft market, role-playing and board games, exhibitions, films and cosplay, run by volunteers and drawing close to 25,000 visitors. It is an indoor festival in exhibition halls rather than a fair on a field; its medieval side is the craft market, the folk music and the costumes, not camps or tournaments.

    Expected 2027
    Family

May 2027

  • Procession of the Holy Blood in Bruges Carolus · CC BY 3.0
    Featured
    Historic City Celebrations

    Procession of the Holy Blood

    Bruges, Belgium

    Every Ascension Day more than 1,800 people from Bruges carry the relic of the Holy Blood through the historic centre in a four-part pageant of Old Testament, New Testament and city history, with horses, carts, choirs and over 250 live musicians. The procession is dated by the city to 1304, has been on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2009, and next takes place on Thursday 6 May 2027.

    2027
    Family

June 2027

  • Ommegang of Brussels in Brussels Christophe Degryse · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Featured
    Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums +1

    Ommegang of Brussels

    Brussels, Belgium

    The Ommegang is Brussels' great historical pageant: more than 1,400 participants in costume, with horses, giants, stilt-walkers, crossbowmen and flag-throwers, process from the Sablon to the Grand-Place on two evenings in early July to recreate the 1549 entry of Emperor Charles V and his son Philip. Its roots go back to a 1348 procession of the crossbowmen's guild; it was revived in 1930 and has been on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2019. The 2026 shows were on 1 and 3 July.

    Expected 2027
    Family

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