A crowd of people with their hands in the air.

The heat is unbearable, the crowd relentless, but one hand rises above the chaos, gripping the dragon’s mane—a year of luck in its grasp. Below, dozens still fight for their own chance, reaching, pushing, desperate. For the untrained eye, the image may seem strange—a hand suspended above a restless sea of heads. But for those who know, this is the final act of a battle centuries old, a fleeting moment of triumph in one of Belgium’s most legendary traditions Ducasse de Mons.