Thousands attend traditional saint Martin's fire festival despite rain

Thousands of people attended the traditional Sint-Maartensvuur, known locally as Sint Mette Vie, in Tielt-Winge, Belgium.

The festival began with a torchlight procession and a beet competition for children. A horse named Roosje, a draft horse standing 1.80 meters tall at the shoulder, led the parade. Participants moved the festivities into a large tent as rain intensified throughout the evening.

Inside the tent, a cover band performed songs by Tom Petty while a percussion group from Leuven performed on illuminated drums. The event continued with a children's disco and a DJ until 3:00 am. Organizers introduced a new payment system called Bancontact Pro to prevent fraud. Last year, the organizing association suffered heavy financial losses when visitors used fake screenshots of payment confirmations to obtain drinks.

The new system requires the seller to see a confirmation screen on their own device to prevent such abuse. The local community helped the organizers recover from last year's financial losses.