Herve

Herve (in Walloon Heve ) is a French-speaking city of Belgium located in Walloon region in the Province of Liege, to 8 km as the crow flies of Verviers and to 17 km of Liege. She is regarded as the capital of the Pays of Herve.

The name of Herve would come from Arvia meaning river . This name would thus come from a brook of which it remains now that a small net, Hack (Hac).

The commune counted at January 1st 2006 16.772 inhabitants for a surface of 56,98 km ².

Capital of the country of the same name, it is famous for its cheese which is since 1996 AOP and its cavalcade the Easter Monday.

History

38 civilians passed by the weapons and 300 houses destroyed by (undoubtedly) the 39e and 165e IH of the German imperial army on August 8th, 1914, at the time of the German Atrocities made at the beginning of the invasion.

The church

The church Saint Jean-Baptiste was built at the 17th century. The tower, to a 49 meters height, went back already from 13th. The bell-tower with the characteristic to be twisted, to offer better a wind resistance.

The cemetery, which was before beside the church, summer first of all moved Place Albert in 1855 and then towards the road of Soumagne in 1928.

The church is listed monument since March 15th, 1934.

Local folklore

Cavalcade

La Cavalcade takes place every year, the Easter Monday since the years 1880. At the beginning, it was about a parade of horses, from where the name of " Cavalcade".

Actuellement, it is a large procession made up of harmony, tanks and groups folk which saunters in the streets of Herve during the afternoon of Monday of Pâques.

But these last years, the majority of the attachments was replaced by the tracteurs.

En 2006, Herve-Attractions decides to carry out a true prowess: to make return horses to the Cavalcade. The bet is successful: nearly 30 attachments all the tractors replaced.

The Procession del Cinquême

(Whit Monday)

Saint-Léonard fair

Traditionally, on November 6th of each year, the St-Léonard fair, owner of the minors, takes its districts in the center of Herve. A multicoloured whole of gravers where all kinds of softnesses are output: caramels, sugars of barley, juices of liquorice, fruits… will be part.

Street pedlars and “charlatans” offering their goods, of the agricultural merchants of ustensils and the singers supplement this table. The streets of Herve are flooded because it is indeed the appointment of all the population before the sad days of winter.

The origins of this fair go certainly back to the organization of the Frank Fair of Herve. An event which existed already at the end of the 14th century. This fair enjoyed certain privileges: as of on November 3rd and during 7 days consecutive, the merchants and the middle-class men salesmen and purchasers, profited from a certain immunity and of a greater freedom because no one could not be stopped nor continued during this time even for the offenses former to the fair! The Franche fair was mainly a large market with cattle.

Six Fountains

The Six Fountains, as a Walloon Lu Six Batches , is a construction made up of 6 stone vats. Each vats has, according to the legend, its own characteristic:

Lu batch with djvas : to water the hair
Lu batch with pourcès : washing of the pigs
Lu great batch : for the lavender fields
Lu p' tit batch : to clean the bowels
Lu reû batch : for the domestic uses
Lu batch Lecomte : best water. The name comes from a family hervienne, Lecomte, which drank only this water. Moreover, the water of this vat would be transformed into wine the evening of Christmas, but that this would carry misfortune to that which would drink some.

Policy

Villages of the commune

Herve is currently composed of 11 villages: Battice, Bolland, Heathers, Chaineux, Charneux, Large-Rechain, Herve, Jose, Julémont, Manaihant and Xhendelesse.

Celebrities

Mathieu Leclercq (Herve 1796 - Brussels 1889) - Member of the National congress at the time of the independence of Belgium - Minister for Justice in 1840.

Georges Gram (Battice 1926 - Beersheba in Israel 1985) - Resistant as an intelligence agent under the occupation of Belgium by the Germans - In 1977, the shortly after the coming into effect of the legislation relating to fusions of the communes (Law Michel), it was appointed burgomaster (PSC, today CdH) of the new entity of Herve - (1971-1985) Senator - (1979-1980) Institutional reform and Minister of Interior Department.

See too

External bond

Official site of the commune

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