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Researched n Written

Belgium—Life Cycle

Introduction

Belgium which takes its name from the Belgae, a people of ancient Gaul, is a miniature Europe with a heterogeneous cultural identity influenced by the Dutch, the French, and the Germans. The Flemish community comprising of over 6 million, living in the Flanders, calls itself a nation, as they form the majority ethnic group of Belgium. The Belgians are a diligent community and the country boasts of one of the highest productivity rates in Europe. However, they also tend to view leisure time just as seriously, an annual vacation of four to six weeks being an accepted norm in the country.

Although the Belgians do not stress their religious heritage, all their rites of passage are particularly marked by religious rituals and Catholicism is closely linked to the natural cycles of life.

Birth

Belgians regard children as life’s most beautiful gift and birth is a highly valued event in the country. The low birth rate in many of the EU countries has prompted governments to offer cash endowments for birth. Every new-born Belgium baby, regardless of gender or economic status, receives a prime de naissance (birth premium) of US$ 860, nearly twice the amount offered by Britain’s ‘baby bond’ scheme. The parents have the right to decide how and when to use the money.

Babies in Belgium are usually swaddled in cloth as it is widely believed that swaddling limits the baby’s movements and prevents the baby from waking himself/ herself.

Babies are normally birthed in hospitals at the recommendation of the gynecologist who provides pre-natal care and delivers the baby. Currently, home births are becoming increasingly popular across the country and organizations such as the Bolle Buik offers assistance for home birthing through its services such as prenatal check-up, support during labor, and post-natal care. It also provides its own birthing centers which many women prefer as an alternative to hospitals.

Midwives are highly rated in Belgium for their services in assisting with the care of the baby during the first two weeks after birth.

Birth announcements are sent by mail and new-borns in Belgium are welcomed with suikerbonen (pastilles with a filling of almond or dark chocolate). Traditionally, given by the godfather and godmother at the baptism ceremony, the offering of Suikerbonen has become more of a food tradition and will soon have outlived the original event it was meant to celebrate.

Nearly 64 percent of the children in Belgium are baptized, a very encouraging figure considering that a mere seven percent of the population attend mass regularly. Baptism is performed almost immediately after birth and the midwife holds the baby during the ceremony.

The previously clandestine status of abortion has changed following the liberalization of laws in 1990 which allows women to perform abortions for several reasons through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy under the certification of two physical examiners. The law permits the termination of pregnancy if it endangers the life of the mother or her physical and mental health, in case of the deformity of the fetus or the detection of fetus with congenital diseases, and when a pregnancy is caused by rape.

Childhood

Childhood in Belgium is comparable to that in other European countries. Children are raised by their parents who try to instill values such as honesty, responsibility, good manners, and tolerance, but value systems are greatly influenced by regional and class differences also.

Education is free and compulsory from age six through age fifteen and many Belgian children go to private schools, tending to choose between trade-oriented, business, and college preparatory training at the high school level.

Both male and female children are valued equally in the Flemish culture, and both have equal rights in matters such as inheritance.

Children start school at the age of six, though some may start at five if they are deemed ready. Nurseries are available for babies and children up to two-and-half years with priority given to mothers who are employed full-time.

Labor courts strictly prohibit forced and bonded child labor and there is no significant child labor in industries, although trafficking in children from Central Europe, Africa, and Asia has been a major problem for the authorities in Belgium.

Coming of Age

The concept of “youth” as a distinct social category between adult and childhood emerged only in the late 19th century when children were withdrawn from the labor market and put through the new life-cycle of learning, which up till then had been the privilege of the affluent few. The stress on education means that Belgian youth spend more time at school and at doing home work as compared to some of their European counterparts such as the Dutch youth who do both formal schooling as well as informal practical training.

There are no specific ceremonies to mark the coming of age in Belgium aside from the sacrament of confirmation which is the public profession of the faith into which the person was baptized. Jewish boys come of age when they turn 13 and the ceremony called the Bar Mitzvah includes religious rites in the synagogue and family celebrations.

The introduction of the compulsory learning in Belgium in 1982 makes a distinct separation between the working phase and learning phase of life. While children in the countryside may assist with farming after they finish some basic education, most teenagers in cities and towns are not expected to contribute to the family income and many continue to stay with their parents until they are around 19 years, splashing their earnings on clothes, cars, and entertainment.

The Belgian youth spend a great deal of time watching television, partying, telephoning, and on computers. Yet, they seem to strike a balance between friends and family unlike some of their other European counterparts who prioritize friends over family.

The minimum age for employment is 15 and adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 may seek part time employment/ study programs or full time employment during school vacations. A young person seeking part-time employment after the age of 15 is covered by the social security system, but he does not contribute to the pension fund and he is also required to be officially registered under part-time employment.

Dating and Courtship

There is no cultural restriction on dating and intimate relationship between opposite sexes is not frowned upon in Belgium.

The concept of Lib-dating is popular in Belgium and involves match-making in a library setting. Flowers, candles, and wine are placed on tables to create a comfortable setting and couples discuss their favorite authors and books and those who would like to have a second date place a note in the favorite book of the partner. The concept is the brainchild of a highly enterprising librarian duo who has been training librarians from as many as 300 facilities to help them set up dating services. The service also includes matchmaking in arranging marriages.

Common venues for dating include cafés, restaurants, night clubs, and cinemas.

Some of the most-frequented dating venues in Belgium include the Antwerp Convention Bureau, Diamond land, and the Den Brandt Castle.

The desirable attributes which people seek in their partners vary widely and are based more on individual needs than cultural models. For instance many youngsters may look for highly unconventional attributes, while a few might look for partners who fit in with traditional role models.

Marriage

The legal age for marriage is uniform for both men and women and is fixed at 18 years and the average age of marriage has risen to 31.3 years for women and 34.2 years for men. The juvenile court is however, authorized to permit marriages below the legally permissible age on certain special grounds.

Parental consent is not a cultural expectation in Belgium and the youth are free to choose their life partners based purely on individual taste and expectations.

There are no social or ethnic barriers to dating or marriage, although proximity and social factors may influence the choice of a partner. In general, young people marry later and have fewer children than did their previous generations.

In 2003, Belgium became the second in the world, after Netherlands, to legalize same-sex marriage. The active lobbying by Holebifederatie, the largest gay and lesbian civil rights organization in Belgium as well as the defeat of the conservative Roman Catholic political party in 1999, made it possible to bring about changes to the marriage act to include same-sex marriages. An extension of the law (2006) also enables legal co-parenting by same-sex couples. Tax and property rights and privileges are also granted to registered gay partners.

Belgian weddings, performed either as a civil ceremony or a religious ceremony, have a fascinating mixture of old traditions and modern customs. Traditional wedding announcements are made on two sheets of paper, one from the bride’s parents and the other from the groom’s, symbolizing a union between the two families. According to an old wedding custom that is still observed in Belgium, the bride walks to the groom’s mother during the recessional, hands over a flower to her and embraces her in a symbolic gesture of the acceptance of her ‘new mother.’ Another endearing tradition of the Belgian wedding is the specially embroidered handkerchief carried by the bride which has her name monogrammed. The handkerchief, framed and hung on the wall, in a place of honor, is passed down as a family heirloom.

The wedding mass and the exchange of rings are important aspects of the wedding and bridesmaids throw coins and offer gifts to the poor, to ensure prosperity of the newly-weds as they leave the church. Traditionally, honeymoons lasted one complete cycle of the moon (28 days) and were celebrated by the drinking of mead (honey wine), the length of time meant to prevent the bride’s family from stealing their daughter away from her husband.

Wedding Anniversaries are publicly celebrated at restaurants or at homes with a gathering of friends and relatives.

Despite Belgium being one of the most densely populated areas in the world, housing is not a problem and married couples set up their own homes in apartments or town houses with children often sharing the bedroom. In many Belgian homes, a part of the house may be used for the family business or shop and some houses have large kitchens which are meeting places for closely knit families.

Wedding anniversaries are celebrated either in private or public as is commonly done in the West.

Belgian legislation permits divorce on grounds of adultery, excesses, cruelty, mutual consent, and the separation and divorce rate among the Flemish has risen in recent decades. Prior to the divorce process, the couple has to come to an agreement on the sharing of property and child custody. Divorce by mutual agreement requires that the marriage should have been contracted at least two years before the filing the petition.

Both parents retain joint rights in matters relating to children and the administration of their assets. In the event of a divorce, both parents, regardless of joint or split child custody, have to contribute towards the maintenance and education of the children until they become adults or finish their studies, the contribution to child maintenance being in proportion to the person’s economic ability.

Neither divorce nor widowhood represents an endpoint in terms of family reorganization, and remarriage or repartnering plays an important role in the family life of Belgians whose marriage has ended as result of divorce or death of one of the partners.

Family and Parenting

The family is the focus of Belgian life and its importance has not diminished despite the changes wrought in the social system by industrialization. Most Belgian children are taught to be loyal to parents, grandparents, siblings, and cousins. The average family size of Belgians is 2.4, close to the EU average and, although nuclear families are the norm in the country, many people opt to stay in the regions where they have been raised, forming closely knit kinship groups. Although kinship rarely extends beyond first cousins, a growing number of middle and upper-class Belgians participate in family associations through which close descendants in a family tree meet once a year or on festival days.

As in other European countries, there has been a rise in the number of single-parent families in the last few decades and Belgium has the highest proportion of males who head single-parent families, the number being one in every four single-parent families.

Traditional gender roles regarded the mother as responsible for home and child-care, while the father was solely in charge of earning the family income. A survey on changing dynamics of family relationships reveals that parenting has become more an issue of negotiation between parents as to how the division of labor should be determined. Although Belgian fathers are becoming more emotionally involved and demonstrative with their children, the fact remains that only a small proportion of men actually shoulder equal or more responsibility in raising children.

Typical family activities of the Flemish include watching television and reading. Many Belgians have the proverbial green fingers and their homes have carefully tended gardens. Overgrown or untidy gardens are perceived as a cause for embarrassment and an insult to the neighbors. Other family hobbies include philately and model trains, besides a shared love for celebrating festivals and socializing with friends in neighborhood cafes after work. Festivals are time for family reunions and are occasions for large family meals with grandparents and cousins.

Meal sharing with the family is common except perhaps when work schedules of the family members preclude it. Family meals are often formal with conversations on daily experience as well as exchange of ideas.

Work/Professional Life

Full-time education is compulsory until the age sixteen and Belgians can undertake part-time employment between the ages fifteen and eighteen. Generally, people have the right to choose their professions based on their educational levels, although family or social models may influence their choice to some extent.

A typical workday consists of eight hours a day or 40 hours a week and in some cases timings can be adjusted at the discretion of the employer and many offices have a long lunch breaks of one to two hours.

Around two-thirds of Belgium’s labor force is employed in the service sector

The unemployment rate among Belgians is around eight percent. The wage differential between men and women in Belgium is one of the lowest in the EU, women’s earnings making up nearly 90 percent of that of men’s.

Although Belgian women have made great strides in the workforce over the past few decades, women tend to be concentrated in traditional female sectors and have been poorly represented in the upper echelons of business and industry.

Belgian men retire at the age of 65. Women’s age of retirement, which had been previously 60, has been gradually raised over the last few years and is expected to be on par with men’s retirement age by 2009.

Old Age

The life expectancy in Belgium is 76 for males and 82 for females and a study shows that the number of people over 65 years of age is set to double by 2030. Although there has not been much change in the willingness of the family to care for the elderly, the unavailability of family members to provide care, increased mobility of families, as well as the increased entry of women in the labor market, has made it practically impossible to provide home-care for the aging population in Belgium. Old age and infirmities associated with it is almost always taken care of by social services and falls within the purview of informal family care to a very small extent.

The federal government offers compensation for the elderly who are partly or entirely dependant on family members for their normal activity and some employers provide financial assistance to those who care for a family member.

Trade fairs such as the Zenith in Brussels for those aged above 50, Expo 60+ in Nekkerhal-Malines, and Accord’ Ages in Liege, aimed at offering free-time activity for the elderly, includes a wide range of activity from aqua gym to badminton and dance to golf.

A survey carried out in the late nineties reveals that the number of single-person households, comprising those over 75 years of age, is on the decline. A higher proportion of people in their advancing age, particularly women, quickly changed house or took on a new partner or spouse. When the elderly moved residence, they preferred to go to a residential care home rather than co-reside with relatives. In general, solitary living has become increasingly less common and many elderly Belgians live in retirement communities or homes for the aged run by religious or social organizations.

A survey reveals that grandparents are more attached to their grand children who are in their early adolescence than with those in their mid or late adolescence and that they hold the same kind of feelings for both, grandsons and granddaughters.

Death

Although Belgians view death as a painful and inevitable reality, rituals and observances associated with the event help to make a transition from the metaphysical aspect of death to the banality of mundane life. Wakes are held at homes and funeral service at cemeteries after which mourners gather in a hall to eat a simple meal.

The Christian belief in afterlife and heaven is also held by Belgians as also the belief in hell or purgatory as a consequence of sins committed on earth.

The Jews bury the dead quickly and observe a seven-day mourning period known as shi’va, during which they remain confined to their homes, leaving them only to visit the synagogue. They sit on low chairs to receive visitors and conceal the mirrors in the house. Jews also tear an item of clothing and wear it for the entire seven-day period as a symbol of their grief. On death anniversaries, the Jews light a memorial candle known as a Yahrzeit candle.

Links

http://www.yfu.hu/down/pdf/belgium.pdf

http://www.kuleuven.be/lucas/PDF/nabare_belgium_rc1_a4.pdf

http://akseli.tekes.fi/opencms/opencms/OhjelmaPortaali/ohjelmat/iWell/fi/Dokumenttiarkisto/Viestinta_ja_aktivointi/Julkaisut/Independent_living_market_in_BELGIUM.doc

http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/DOCH/DOCH%20109%20_PVP_.pdf

https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/geos/be.html

http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=163072

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/appendices/8/appendix/Judaism.html

http://www.right-to-education.org/content/age/belgium.html

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6308637.html

http://www.visitbelgium.com/venues.htm#flanders

http://www.likelike.com/pollcommentary.php?poll_id=1843