In a region of Belgium situated between two rivers (the Sambre and the Meuse), a tradition that has disappeared in other parts of the country has been strangely preserved over the centuries. From May to the end of Autumn, each entity in the region gets its religious relics out in the surrounding countryside to honour the patron saint of the village. Many religious marches are held under the patronage of Saint Roch (Thuin, Ham-sur-Heure, Châtelet, Acoz), who is supposed to have interceded in favour of the population during the plague epidemics of the 17th Century. The armed escorts that usually accompany these processions have secular origins. They come from the urban and rural militias that used to protect the villages and the towns. Over the years, these militias slowly disappeared and adopted more popular functions. The most common one was that of organising festive events in the towns and villages. These groups, generally formed of young unmarried men, have perpetuated the tradition and maintained the military aspect of the escorts, trying their best to provide uniforms (from the First and Second Empire and the Belgian Civic Guard) and firearms.
Thomas Vanden Driessche
Thomas Vanden Driessche was born in Leuven in 1979. Holder of a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in humanitarian management, he has been working for the United Nation Development program in Morocco, for the Belgian Red Cross and for the International Committee of the Red Cross Delegation to the European Union and the NATO. Freelance photographer working regularly for the Belgian news magazine Le Vif L’Express since 2010, Thomas joined the collective Out Of Focus in February 2011 and is a nominee photographer of the French Agency Picturetank since December 2011. His most recent photographic series tackle Contemporary India and its fast growing economy. Thomas is also working on a long-term project on some forms of trivialization of violence in Europe. Rewarded with a “Parole Photographique” price in 2009 and five PX3 awards in 2010-2011, his work has been recently displayed in Paris (MK2 Library, Gare de l’Est, Galerie Dupon, Festival Circulation(S) #2), in Lille (Transphotographiques 2011) Liège (BIP 2012) and in Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts, The Egg). In 2011, Thomas was invited to be a jury member of the prestigious “Visa d’or Humanitaire” awards. The french organisation Fetart (for the promotion of the young emergent european photographer) support Thomas work since 2010. Thomas lives and works for the moment in Brussels.
