Martin Vanden Broucke has been dusting off the figures in December for seventeen years. His stable is a tradition on Heroes’ Square. He is also not happy with the change in Brussels. “Christmas should still remain Christmas, the way it used to be. I’m not in favor of those new versions.”
The people who come to admire his stable also don’t think the modern figures without faces are high-flyers. “This is the old traditional way that we have always known it since childhood. Our parents and grandparents have also always known it this way. Why do we have to change that tradition? I think traditions are made to be honored.”