French Community Day in Belgium (27/09)

French Community of Belgium (French. Communauté française de Belgique) — is one of the three linguistic communities of Belgium, along with Flemish and German-speaking, it includes Wallonia with a population of about 4.2 million people.

French Community Holiday, French. The Fête de la Communauté française, celebrated on September 27 by the entire French-speaking population of Belgium (i.e. the Walloons), is celebrated on the anniversary of the events when the Belgian struggle against the Dutch occupation culminated in the revolution of 1830.

The Belgian Revolution broke out on the night of August 25, 1830, after the first production of Daniel François Esprit's sentimental and patriotic opera Daniel François Esprit (La Muette de Portici). The opera, depicting the uprising of Neapolitan fishermen against Spanish rule in 1647 and full of Neapolitan melodies, found a warm response in the hearts of the audience.

After the premiere, the crowd burst into the streets, shouting patriotic slogans... and seized the government building. The rebellion soon spread throughout the country.

As a result of the unrest, Holland lost control of the rebel territory. Russian Emperor Nicholas I, as the «gendarme of Europe», even prepared an invasion of revolutionary Belgium, but was distracted: in November 1830, the Poles rebelled.

King William I tried to restore order by force, but the royal army also failed to suppress the uprising — the attempt resulted in bloody street battles that lasted 3 days — from September 23 to 26. On September 26, a provisional government was declared in Brussels. And then Belgium was declared an independent and eternally neutral state«.

In 1975, in memory of this victory, it was decided to celebrate September 27 as French Community Day, the first time it was celebrated in the same year.

On this day, schools and many government agencies throughout Wallonia are closed. Theatrical performances take place on city streets. The main events of the holiday take place in Brussels, Liege, Charleroi, Mons and Namur, as well as in a number of small towns in Wallonia.

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