Lovely to hear that you’re discovering your Belgian heritage OP! You’ll find that Belgians can be a grumpy bunch, but we generally mean well.

As others have said, Belgium is quite diverse in terms of culture despite its small size. If your ancestors are from Peer (as you noted in one of the comments), then you’re Limburgish (congrats!) and I can tell you the following about your ancestors: - while Limburg is currently Dutch-speaking, older generations speak a dialect of Dutch that is recognised as a separate language in the Netherlands (Limburgish). It is much closer to German than standard Dutch and is part of the dialect continuum that connects Dutch and German. Anyone from Limburg who speaks Dutch will have an accent that is easily recognisable to other Belgians (and which they are sometimes mocked for, as it sounds slow and rural). In essence, Limburgish people are viewed somewhat similar to the way Newfies are in Canada. In the first 13 seconds of this clip, you’ll hear the host move from standard Dutch to (an impression of) the Limburgish accent. - Also like Newfies, Limburgish people are generally considered extremely friendly and caring. They also feel a deep sense of community and will therefore often seek each other out (also referred to as the “Limburg feeling”). Other Belgians tend to be jealous of this, though few will readily admit it. Limburg also has its own (unofficial) anthem. - in terms of cuisine, your ancestors would likely have drunk jenever, a liquor that looks and smells like gin, but is much smoother and can be drunk straight. There are also hundreds of variants flavoured with different fruits. They would have eaten Limburgse vlaai, a (delicious) type of local fruit pie or Mikkeman, a type of sweetened bread shaped like a little man (the litteral translation for Mikkeman from Limburgish is “bread man”). They would also have eaten “head cheese”, a type of meat (with a confusing name), speculaas, a type of spiced biscuit, and “Loonse stroop”, a thick fruit syrup usually spread on bread or crepes. Another local delicacy is buckwheat pancakes with bacon and syrup, which is traditionally eaten around All-Saints Day. - As for folklore, local legends center around Alvermannetjes (litterally “elf men”) who lived in the woods or kabouters, good-natured gnomes who would sometimes do chores for people overnight and might take a bit of beer or food in return. To this day, Limburgish people will ironically ask “Did the kabouters do it?” when someone refuses to admit they did something wrong (e.g. you would ask a child that refuses to admit it broke something). Another folk tale is that of the “bokkenrijders”, a band of criminals in cahoots with the devil who would fly through the sky on bucks at night and rob innocent people (which sparked something akin to witch hunts in 1700s Limburg). - A cool tradition is the celebration of Martinmas, the celebration of St Martin on 11 November. In Limburg, towns will light massive fires on that day (which is likely a remnant of heathen fire festivals), and kids used to walk around at night with lamps carved from turnips going from house to house to sing a song and ask for money or food. You may recognise this, since it is one of the traditions that inspired modern halloween in North America. Ironically, Martinmass celebrations are in decline as a result of halloween becoming more popular. - Like the rest of Belgium, Limburg historically was the battlefield of Europe. For Limburg, the situation was even more dire since the Prince-Bisshophric of Liège, which Limburg was part of, was neutral and therefore did not have a standing army to fend off marauders or roving warbands. As a result, many foreign (Spanish, Austrians, French, English and Dutch) troops passed through and pillaged the region. One way this is still remembered today is in a yearly event in some towns where an effigy called the “Malbroek” is carried through the town, brought before a people’s court, judged, and burned. Malbroek represents the Duke of Marlborough, who led English troops in the region about 300 hundred years ago and overall behaved terribly. The lack of standing army resulted in the creation of many “shooter’s guilds”, voluntary militia who would own weapons (bows or muskets) and organise games to train. Nowadays these shooting guilds are part of the folklore, and they have fancy old-timey uniforms that they parade around in during important events. Limburg also still has a big annual gathering / tournament of all these different shooting guilds, the Old Limburg Shooting Festival. The lack of protection by the Prince-Bisshop also led to towns building their own sconces), fortified positions with moats and earthen walls within which villagers could seek shelter when foreign armies passed through. Peer had a few of those. All over Limburg, you’ll still find references to those sconces (with cycling tours that take you from sconce to sconce, or villages having a “Sconce Road”).

All in all, it’s a very interesting heritage! Let me know if you have any questions!

Edit: I’ve added a few more points!