Happy rat-a-tat-tat Christmas, Liège

Last week, the University of Liège, which was celebrating for the first time its « Noël des cultures », wasn't so disturbed by the tragical event that marked the town.

As you may know, the Noël des cultures is the inaugural event of the year of languages. This brand new project of the University of Liège (ULg) is aimed to improve the visibility of activities linked to languages and cultures in the town. A webpage has been specially created in the website of the institution to assemble these events. Everything is classified by area (conviviality, culture and arts, didactics, linguistics and philology, literature, miscellaneous, specialised language of communication, and translation), by target audiences, and by languages, of course. From French and Spanish to more exotic languages like Arabic or Japanese, through Hungarian and Sign language, you will find all that you want !

Where did you come from, where did you go?

Monday 12 December, in the afternoon, a lot of people gathered together at the opening of the stands. In the main entrance of the institution, seventeen countries were represented by natives, descendants, or simple aficionados of the country. One of the most amusing accents I have heard there was the liégeois accent of the man who was presenting Spain... That wasn't really exotic! I also noticed that, despite of obvious efforts to warm up the place - with some patio heater that I found frightening (oops! the University is burning), the temperature wasn't high enough to permit people to remove their coats, even if a cloakroom had been organised. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay until the welcome cocktail, which was continued by the speeches of important local people, like Laurent Despy (ULg Administrator) or Jean-Marc Defays (ISLV Director), and regional personalities, like Jean-Claude Marcourt (Higher Education Minister). After that, a Christmas concert and traditional Latvian dances have enlivened the evening.

Tuesday, bloody Tuesday

In other words, everything was all right... Until Tuesday, around half pasted twelve. At that time, a - much more than - disturbed person, called Nordine Amrani, lobbed three hand grenades and fired an assault rifle into the crowd, on the Saint-Lambert place. By that way, he killed four people and he injureed one hundred and twenty-three others before killing himself. The population was shocked. During all the afternoon, the police scrutinized the town, looking for any accomplices of the murderer. The traffic was interrupted; everyone was invited to stay inside. Time stopped everywhere...

Except for the people in charge of the stands of the Noël des cultures who were so busy with the preparation of their tables. The rumours were circulating that two other armed people were in the town, but time went by at the ULg. Nearly two o'clock, the exhibition started. There, you could discover other cultures and taste traditional recipes from foreign countries. Even if fifty minutes later, at ten to three, the police informed the population that they had the situation under control, I didn't really aspire to meet new people. I'd rather wanted to see my friends to make sure that they were still alive and come back home to be with my family.

I don't think that University should be blamed because the activities carried on normally. I would even say that it was the right thing to do: the situation would have been worse if all the lessons had been cancelled. Without a place to go, the crowd of students would have created the chaos into the institution. But I think that the crisis could have been better managed for the ones who weren't in class. There has been a real lack of communication between academic representatives and students. During the two hours I spent indoors, I have never met one person able to tell me what I was supposed to do, and there were no emergency instructions.

Bye bye, Christmas pie!

Finally, the last day of the exhibition happened. There, I discussed with the British representative. She explained to me that, in United Kingdom, Santa Claus is both Saint Nicholas and Father Christmas. She also talked about the British Christmas specialities, until she suggested me to taste the famous British mince pie - one of those recipes that only British people seem to have the secret. This cake looks quite good, crusty and fruity like the European pies. The representative repeated to me that it is a sweet pastry. I hesitated and I finally gave in to the temptation. I took a piece of pie and, when I was going to eat it, she told me that the fruits were soaked into brandy. What a surprise! At least, I know now that I don't like it!

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast

At five o'clock, in the afternoon, some people sang Christmas Carols on the main entrance. There, we could recognise a great number of ISLV teachers. Those peaceful songs, like Silent Night, made a warm atmosphere on all the manifestation, letting cooler heads prevail after the tragical event that happened the day before. Around half pasted five, a band of four greek musicians took the reins. They played traditional songs which were full of rhythm. The public started to clap their hands when a greek woman began to dance the Hasapiko, a traditional greek dance which look like the italian Tarantella. What a great ending for this first Noël des cultures!

Lara Burton