The Nivelles Carnival (french: Carnaval de Nivelles) is one of the most important carnivals in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It is the oldest carnival in the province of

Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant (french: Brabant wallon ; nl, Waals-Brabant ; wa, Roman Payis) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and ...

. It welcomes a lot of floats, traditional groups,

majorettes A majorette is a baton twirler whose twirling performance is often accompanied by dance, movement, or gymnastics; they are primarily associated with marching bands during parades. Majorettes can also spin knives, fire knives, flags, light-up ba ...

, fanfares and giants. The carnival is mainly famous for its societies of

Gilles The Gilles are the oldest and principal participants in the Carnival of Binche in Belgium. They go out on Shrove Tuesday from 4 am until late hours and dance to traditional songs. Other cities, such as La Louvière and Nivelles, have a traditio ...

and its imaginative societies which attract crowds as in the nearby Centre region, Hainaut (binchois type of carnival). It lasts four days and takes place on the weekend of

Quadragesima Sunday Quadragesima Sunday (also known as Invocabit Sunday) is the first Sunday in Lent, occurring after Ash Wednesday. The term ''Quadragesima'' is derived from the Latin word for "fortieth", as there are exactly forty days from Quadragesima Sunday until ...

.Bernard Dubrulle, ''Petit Futé Wallonie: L'Ardenne et bien plus'' (2007), p. 64. It starts the first Saturday of

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

and ends the following Tuesday.

History

The Nivelles Carnival started before the 1900s. It initially took place around

Laetare Sunday Laetare Sunday (Church Latin: ; Classical Latin: ; English: , , , , ) is the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent, in the Western Christian liturgical calendar. Traditionally, this Sunday has been a day of celebration, within the austere period ...

and later moved to the first weekend of

. It is not known exactly when

made their first appearance (around 1910). File:1888-carnavalNivelles.jpg, Flyer about the carnival (1888) File:CarnavalNivellesAffiche.jpg, Flyer about the carnival (1913)

References

{{Reflist Carnivals in Belgium Spring (season) events in Belgium