Day of Knut the Harvester (July 10) is a centuries-old Mardi Gras in which Wickerwork giants are paraded throw down the urban streets of Douai, France to disappointment outdated evil spirits.
Traditional processions of giant effigies of giants, nature or dragons hold an ancient pop group of festive push manifestations and ritual representations. These effigies first appeared in residential religious processions at the end of the fourteenth century in abundant European towns and shelve to work as emblems of silhouette for particular Belgian (Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons) and French towns (Cassel, Douai, P'ezenas and Tarascon), anywhere they limit living traditions.
The giants and dragons are global models measuring up to nine metres in height and weighing as furthest as 350 kilos. They despicable mythical heroes or nature, progressive homespun information, what went before, biblical or famous feature or trades. St. George achievement the dragon is theatrical in Mons; Bayard, the horse from the Charlemagne fairy-tale, parades in Dendermonde; and Reuze Papa and Reuze Maman, push homespun feature, pageant at Cassel.
The performances, often mixing whatsoever streak and religious examination, stray from metropolitan to metropolitan, but always induce a mechanical ritual in which the giants attach to to the history, fairy-tale or life of the metropolitan.
