Walloons are a Gallo-Romance ethnic group native to Wallonia and the immediate adjacent regions of Flanders, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Walloons primarily speak langues d'oïl such as Belgian French, Picard and Walloon. Walloons are primarily Roman Catholic, with a historical minority of Protestantism which dates back to the Reformation era.
Wallonia, officially the Walloon Region, is one of the three regions of Belgium—along with Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the country, Wallonia is primarily French-speaking. It accounts for 55% of Belgium's territory, but only a third of its population. The Walloon Region and the French Community of Belgium, which is the political entity responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education, are independent concepts, because the French Community of Belgium encompasses both Wallonia and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region but not the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
Walloon is a Romance language that is spoken in much of Wallonia and, to a very small extent, in Brussels, Belgium; some villages near Givet, northern France; and a clutch of communities in northeastern Wisconsin, U.S.
The Parliament of Wallonia is the legislative body of Wallonia, one of the three self-governing regions of Belgium. The parliament building, the former Hospice Saint-Gilles, is situated in Namur, the capital of Wallonia, at the symbolic confluence of the Meuse and the Sambre, the two main rivers of the most inhabited parts of Wallonia, the Sillon industriel. On the other side of the Meuse, facing the Parliament, is the Élysette, the seat of the Government of Wallonia.
In Belgium, the French Community refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which is controversial because its name in the Belgian constitution has not changed and because it is seen as a political statement. The name "French Community" refers to Francophone Belgians, and not to French people residing in Belgium. As such, the French Community of Belgium is sometimes rendered in English as "the French-speaking Community of Belgium" for clarity, in analogy to the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
"The Song of the Walloons" is the regional anthem of Wallonia in Belgium. The original lyrics were written by Théophile Bovy in 1900 in the Walloon language. A year later, it was set to music composed by Louis Hillier. Performed for the first time in the city of Liège, the song quickly spread to other parts of French-speaking Belgium and established itself like a "national" anthem for Wallonia.
Pierre Paulus (1881–1959), later Baron Pierre Paulus de Châtelet, was a Belgian expressionist painter. He is best known as the designer of the "bold rooster" adopted on 3 July 1913 as the symbol of the Walloon Movement and today the flag of Wallonia.
Wallonie libre is a minor political party active in Wallonia in Belgium which originated as a group active within the resistance in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. Affiliated with the Walloon Movement, its ideology became increasingly radical in the post-war period.
Jean Gol was a Belgian politician for the liberal Walloon party Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL). He was a minister, on several occasions, in the Belgian government, including service as Deputy Prime Minister.
The Rassemblement Wallonie France is a small political party in Belgium. It is active in Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region. In Brussels it is known as the Rassemblement Bruxelles France or RBF. Its aim is the secession of Wallonia, Brussels and the six Flemish municipalities with language facilities for French-speakers around Brussels from Belgium and to unite them with France.
The Walloon Movement is an umbrella term for all Belgium political movements that either assert the existence of a Walloon identity and of Wallonia and/or defend French culture and language within Belgium, either within the framework of the 1830 Deal or either defending the linguistic rights of French-speakers. The movement began as a defence of the primacy of French but later gained political and socio-economic objectives. In French, the terms wallingantisme and wallingants are also used to describe, sometimes pejoratively, the movement and its activists. To a lesser extent, the Walloon Movement is also associated with the representation of the small German-speaking population in the East Belgium of the Walloon Region.
The Walloon Movement traces its ancestry to 1856 when literary and folkloric movements based around the Society of Walloon language and literature began forming. Despite the formation of the Society of Walloon Literature, it was not until around 1880 that a "Walloon and French-speaking defense movement" appeared, following the linguistic laws of the 1870s. The movement asserted the existence of Wallonia and a Walloon identity while maintaining the defense of the French language.
Rattachism or Reunionism is a political ideology which calls for the French-speaking part of Belgium or Wallonia to secede from Belgium and become part of France. Brussels, which is majority French-speaking but enclaved in Flanders, may be included within this ideology; as may the six Flemish municipalities with language facilities for French-speakers around Brussels. It can be considered a French-speaking equivalent of Grootneerlandisme in Flanders.
The A4 is a Belgian motorway connecting Brussels and the A6 in Luxembourg. The motorway is part of E411 between Brussels and Arlon. This motorway, the longest of Belgium (188km), is also nicknamed the "Autoroute de la Nouvelle Belgique" as opposed to the structuring axis Liège-Tournai. Indeed, the A4 connects rapidly developing centers such as Brussels and the city of Luxembourg, and it crosses economic zones full of vitality: the south-eastern suburbs of Brussels, Walloon Brabant and in particular Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Namur the new capital of Wallonia since 1986, and the country of Arlon.
The history of Wallonia, from prehistoric times to the present day, is that of a territory which, since 1970, has approximately coincided with the territory of Wallonia, a federated component of Belgium, which also includes the smaller German-speaking Community of Belgium. Wallonia is the name colloquially given to the Walloon Region. The French word Wallonie comes from the term Wallon, itself coming from Walh. Walh is a very old Germanic word used to refer to a speaker of Celtic or Latin.
The Manifesto for Walloon Culture, was published in Liège on 15 September 1983 and signed by seventy-five "key figures in artistic, journalistic and university circles" of Wallonia.
André Renard was a Belgian trade union leader who, in the aftermath of World War II, became an influential figure within the Walloon Movement.
The Day of the Walloon Region or simply the Day of Wallonia is the annual public holiday of Wallonia, the southern region of Belgium. It is celebrated each third Sunday of September and commemorates the participation of the Walloons to the Belgian Revolution in 1830.
The Union des Femmes de Wallonie was a Belgian women's association founded in 1912 by Léonie de Waha, assisted by Marguerite Delchef, to stimulate interest in Walloon culture and politics. Initially, it encouraged women to participate in the revival of Wallonia, especially in regard to the region's language and folklore. Following the organization's re-establishment after the First World War, more attention was given to women's emancipation. In the 1930s, the focus was on women's suffrage, higher education and professional opportunities for women, although some participants continued to stress the importance of the role of women in the home. From 1920 to 1936, the UFW published the journal La Femme wallonne which generally presented a feminist approach in support of overcoming traditional stereotypes and working towards universal suffrage.
Jacques Stiennon was a Belgian medievalist who worked as a librarian and a professor of history at the University of Liège. His main research interests were in the history of the principality of Liège and of Wallonia, especially with regard to monastic history, art and archaeology.
