Folklore market in Heist

Each Thursday afternoon during the months of July and August, a folkloristic market takes place in Heist (part of the town of Knokke-Heist, near the Dutch border).

This market is a mix of genuine traders, but also of people who still practice the old art of making things. Like horse-smiths, weavers of fishing nets, the pealing of shrimp, .... Heist was - and is - mainly a village of fishermen. Lots of the old families have more than one seafarer in their family.

When my sister and I were little kids, our parents rented part of a house with such a fisherman. He was called Frans and was married to his Marie. The couple did not have any children or grandchildren, and so we were quickly embraced as surrogate grandchildren. More than once Frans told my mother she did not need to cook, as he was bringing fish home. He then prepared it in the old way of the fishermen and we only had to eat.... So we learned to love fish and everything else coming from the sea at an early age. We still do!