The carnivals in Walloony

The " Blancs Moussis" of Stavelot

The Carnivals in Walloony

1. The carnival in Tilff

The carnival in Tilff offers a double nature: it is, at the same time, a street carnival and a procession.
It’s a street carnival if you take into account that:
- in the afternoon, while waiting for the procession, small groups of masked and disguised people nicely worry and tease the audience, inviting the people to join in actively;
- during the procession, some more boisterous people entertain the crowd: they choose people in the audience and make them join in their jokes and tricks;
- in the evening, you’ll see a mass party with the “ cramignon”, especially with the burning of the witch;
- the whole day, children an adults battle with confetti’s.
It’s a procession because of the demonstration of the floats and companies in front of the grand-stand. In the carnival of Tilff, you’ll also find two famous tendencies: an old one which was to entertain the local community and a new one which assures a show.
Finally, Tilf presents an elected Prince, whose clothes are more similar to those of a 16 th century marquis than to those of the Rhenish Princes.
The carnival in Tilff is also influenced by the spirit of Liège. The rebellious spirit is always ready to catch the facts in the news to make jokes, and to mock them.
It’s in a nice way that the inhabitants of Tilff express their feelings. At the carnival of Tilff, you “feel at home”.

2. The carnival in Malmédy

It’s a very old carnival, which is still called “Cwarmê” (or Quarmai), from its old Latin name. The “Cwarmê” lasts four days and takes place just before the Ash Wednesday: from noon on Saturday until midnight on Shrove Tuesday.
A document dated 25 June 1459 refers to Mondays and Tuesdays of the “Cwarmê” but this carnival probably already existed long before that date. On the four Thursdays before the carnival, people disguise themselves. Those Shrove Thursdays are already mentioned in a document dating of 1666, which tells the story of a young girl whose linen mask caught fire.
But in 1695, and many time afterwards, in the 18th and 19th century, the priest-princes banned this carnival. Of course, the inhabitants of Malmédy didn’t agree and went over this banning.
In the 20 th century, there only three pieces of banning; from 1914 to 1919 and from 1940 to 1945, because of the 2 World Wide Wars, but also in 1962, because of a smallpox epidemic.
In the 19 th century, the carnival became more structured with the birth of companies also called “banes” (= bands).
Another very important characteristic of this carnival is that everything which is said or sung at the “Cwarmê” is in Walloon.

3. The carnival of Stavelot

1502: birth of the “Blancs Moussis” (= White Guys)
The reigning priest-prince forbad the religious to join in the popular party. The crowd wanted to refer to the happy and regretted presence of the monks by disguising themselves with clothes that looked like their outfit. After another banning, only one disguise, a white one, will always remind the monastic outfit. A laughing mask and a long nose will complete the outfit.
This legend is now commonly admitted but it took shape in 1947 and structuralized in brotherhoods thanks to Walter Fostier, sometimes called the creator of this pseudo-historical fantasy. Friend of Stavelot and of its folklore, he will create in 1950 a magnificent grant-knighthood.
This decade saw a great folkloric and touristic development. A great amount of associations made of the “Laetare” one of the most important part of the Walloon and European folklore (40000 people in 1954).
The particularity of the “Laetare” of Stavelot is that the whole city took part in its creation. Those associations walk in the streets and create a procession of more than 2000 participants, most of them from Stavelot. One inhabitant out of three joins in actively. Really, Stavelot is the capital city of the “Laetare”.

The carnival of Malmédy