During Belgian emigration to the New World, the Flemish and Walloon communities separated.
The Walloons went where the French was – Quebec was a big draw, but they also ended up in Wisconsin, like the news item shows. There’s also some small towns in Southern Ontario, around Delhi ON (near London/St Thomas) with strong Walloon heritage.
The Flemish (afaik) didn’t really stick to one area – so they were quicker to be anglicized. Some headed west, many stayed in Manitoba and other towns in Southern Ontario.
It’s bittersweet – you can go to these places and see and hear the same things you do here, but over the years the traditions have become distorted versions of themselves, and you can’t help but have sympathy for people who desperately tried to keep their heritage alive in the face of a lot of challenges.
They even have Walloon teeth!
The Walloon speakers there probably live of other hard working US citizen’s tax money.
the professor’s name is pretty apt considering he’s studying belgian heritage also I thought walloon was just a dialect of french but it is a full fledged language and looks pretty [strange](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOc-i8C0Qn0).
As a Wisconsin native who joined the sub years ago on a lark while connected to a Belgian vpn, I’m so happy to finally feel included
A good reminder that both communities suffered under the boot of the Belgian French speaking elite.
The Waloon are not the descendants of that elite. Their language was wiped out. My grandfather didn’t speak French fluently and was punished at school for speaking Waloon.
I hate the historical weight of responsability put on the Waloonians since they speak french nowadays.
6 comments
Fascinating, yeah.
During Belgian emigration to the New World, the Flemish and Walloon communities separated.
The Walloons went where the French was – Quebec was a big draw, but they also ended up in Wisconsin, like the news item shows. There’s also some small towns in Southern Ontario, around Delhi ON (near London/St Thomas) with strong Walloon heritage.
The Flemish (afaik) didn’t really stick to one area – so they were quicker to be anglicized. Some headed west, many stayed in Manitoba and other towns in Southern Ontario.
It’s bittersweet – you can go to these places and see and hear the same things you do here, but over the years the traditions have become distorted versions of themselves, and you can’t help but have sympathy for people who desperately tried to keep their heritage alive in the face of a lot of challenges.
They even have Walloon teeth!
The Walloon speakers there probably live of other hard working US citizen’s tax money.
the professor’s name is pretty apt considering he’s studying belgian heritage also I thought walloon was just a dialect of french but it is a full fledged language and looks pretty [strange](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOc-i8C0Qn0).
As a Wisconsin native who joined the sub years ago on a lark while connected to a Belgian vpn, I’m so happy to finally feel included
A good reminder that both communities suffered under the boot of the Belgian French speaking elite.
The Waloon are not the descendants of that elite. Their language was wiped out. My grandfather didn’t speak French fluently and was punished at school for speaking Waloon.
I hate the historical weight of responsability put on the Waloonians since they speak french nowadays.