“We used to think that a man alone in our street at night was strange. Now we know: he is looking for Rudi.” Our reporter sees how a village is captivated by plastic reindeer

Nieuwmoer, a sub-municipality of Kalmthout, has been under the spell of Rudi the Reindeer for a whole week. Children (and adults) must try to steal that doll from the front garden of a fellow villager. Anyone who possesses the animal on January 1 at 9 a.m. will receive a prize. But it was never feasible at that price. Initiator Kristel Wouters (32) wanted to see the children of Nieuwmoer walking on the streets again from morning to evening, with cheeks blushing from the cold: “It sometimes makes me emotional, I think it’s so beautiful.”

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