Two Hour Mass in Two Languages - Arlin Monfils

 

The Sound of the Walloon language (UDHR, Numbers, Greetings & Sample Texts)

 

Laundry - Ervin Jadin

 

New exhibit at the Belgian Farm

 Heritage Hill State Park wrote:

We have a new exhibit at the Belgian Farm! Visitors can use their smart phones to scan the QR code, on our new signs, to hear information about Belgian culture and the farm experience spoken in Walloon, the native language of many area Belgians and its English equivalent. Walloon is an oral language only and is endangered.

The QR codes at the Farm are located on signage at the Belgian Farmhouse, the Summer Kitchen, and at the Barn. 

We would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Margaret Rueckl, a native Walloon speaker, who graciously donated her time to record the Walloon language and to the Belgian Walloon Heritage and Friends organization for partnering with us on this wonderful exhibit. Heritage Hill is one of few museums to have a non-indigenous spoken language exhibit, and is honored to showcase these recordings.

#Belgianfarm #newexhibit #Walloon #sharingheritage

The QR code brings you here: https://heritagehillgb.org/belgian-farm-walloon-reading-rail-audio-tours/

{Edit Aug 2021}
Since the QR code and Heritage Hill audio was short lived and now returns a "404 page not found" error, a copy can now be found here: https://archive.org/details/heritage-hill-belgian-farm

Genealogy

I had hoped to learn a bit more Walloon by now, but apparently this work of Kelly Biers takes time.

I did stumble into another resource.  In the book "Our Marchant Relatives" written by  Jeanne & Les Rentmeester, there is a section (6 pages) on the Walloon language, showing some commonly used words in English, Walloon and French.

The authors note the original source is from Mary Ann Defnet who sent them a small Walloon dictionary that was published in Namur in 1981.  The introduction to the dictionary has a short resume of work in Belgium to study the Wallon dialect, e.g., a chair at the University of Liege, Wallon homage at the Brussels University Library, a center at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, etc.

Anyway since learning Walloon has been slow, and there is this COVID thing going on, I have found it a great time to work on genealogy.

I like familysearch better than ancestry, since its free, and more importantly its wiki style (a collaborative approach) with one big tree, vs ancestry where everyone creates their own tree.  (which often times seems to lead to replication of incorrect info).

For me its's about helping the next person. In ways it's much like how our ancestors would work together to harest the crops. I also think of it as a time capsule. Sooner or later someone else will stumble into it and appreciate it. I also view it as a good way to honor our ancestors.

Women Not Allowed In Tavern - Gerald Englebert

 

Oral History - Entertainment - Kermiss: The Grand Fyess

 

Horses Scared By Lighting - Emily Dhuey

 

Old Song in Wisconsin Walloon

From the Li walon po tertos Facebook group.

Finding your Belgian Roots

BHC Genealogist, Sue Havel, gave a great presentation on "Finding your Belgian Roots" at the Appleton Public Library.