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Dancing in the streets, of Echternach - St Willibrord's feast day

Today, 07 Nov, is the feast day of St. Willibrord, the patron saint of epileptic convulsions and of Luxembourg.

Willi was from Northumbria, but did a lot of missionary work in the Benelux countries, and the town of Echternach puts on a very popular dance procession every year on Whit Tuesday to celebrate him, and the miraculous curing powers of the wells he blessed.

It's interesting that Christianity was spread from what is today Yorkshire to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Willi was the first bishop of Utrecht in the late 7th century, and the basilica in Echternach is named for him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echternach

Does anyone have any tips on where to make a home base for exploring this area around the other side of the Sauer River border with Germany? What have you found worth touring?

Posted by
2825 posts

Yes there certainly is a lot of dancing going on around my neighborhood today, too.
It is indeed a Happy St Willibrord's day.

Posted by
1531 posts

Gayle king says its like a nation wide block party.

Thanks st wiilibrod

Posted by
2825 posts

To stay on-topic for travel -- this small town of Echternach looks to be not too far by car from Trier or Eisenach, and not out of the way if touring Liege, so I honestly am curious if anyone has some travel tips relating to it --
maybe this Dancing In The Streets topic should be in more than one country category on the travel forum.

Like with Colmar, I continue to search around for ways to get a taste of the region without actually having to go into Germany.

Posted by
2512 posts

Woo hoo! There’s a dance celebration in the streets in my neighborhood, too. Even fireworks. Always grand to escape fascism. Oh, yeah. Said and done.

Posted by
1682 posts

Last autumn we based for almost two weeks close to Bernkastel, and made a few day trips into Luxembourg. I'm well known as the Gene Kelly of the Vines here in Niagara but we did not dance in Echternach: we had an early coffee and a short stroll about town. It is central to Vianden and Luxembourg City, as well as scenic driving and hiking in the Mullerthal area.

We spent most of one day driving and hiking on part of the Mullerthal Trail - https://www.mullerthal.lu/de - and a very long day in Luxembourg City (cemetery, the casements, a late lunch and walkaround of the Grund area). By most accounts the Duchal Palace is worth a visit, though it has a limited open period.
My wife very much likes lunch/dinner cruises and such, so we took a long cruise on the Mosel from Remich: a 'gourmet' dinner, which it wasn't, but the food and wine were decent enough, though the scenery is not as pretty as further north on the Mosel.

Vianden is a terrific little place, architectually and generally more interesting than Echternach, and the castle visit is well worth the effort.
There are a few other locations/sites associated with WWII in the area, which we did not visit.

I don't know where Eisenach is or why you want to stay clear of Germany. Saarburg is a small, pretty place close to Echternach and worth visiting. Monshau, about an hour and a half away, even more so. I was not as enamoured of Trier as I was many years earlier.

Posted by
10303 posts

I'm well known as the Gene Kelly of the Vines here in Niagara

This is clearly the year’s best sentence anywhere on the Forum.