The ''Cwarmê'' is a carnival which takes place in the city of

Malmedy Malmedy (; , historically also ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2018, Malmedy had a total population of 12,654. The total area is 99.96 km2 which gives a population dens ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It lasts four days and is listed as

intangible heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Int ...

of the

French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...

. The carnival begins at midnight on the Friday before

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

and lasts until midnight on

Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the final day of Shrovetide, which marks the end of the pre-Lenten season. Lent begins the following day with Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is observed in many Christian state, Ch ...

History and origins

The oldest record of the carnival of Malmedy is in a document from 1459 that mentions the ''Quarmae'' (Cwarmê), but it is thought that it was already celebrated much earlier.Georges Hansotte, ''Inventaire des archives de l'Abbaye et de la Principauté de Stavelot-Malmedy'', p. 43. The word Cwarmê is used to talk about the carnival period, which lasts four days in the city in Malmedy. Those days are called in Walloon ''Grandès haguètes'' (tall haguètes) by opposition to the ''P'titès haguètes'' (small haguètes) or four ''jeudi gras'' that precede the carnival. The first written evidence of a prohibition of the carnival dates from 1695, when the principality of Malmedy was governed by prince-abbots. The local authorities feared that this celebration could encourage public disorder since it was assimilated to pagan rituals. Other prohibitions were issued in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the inhabitants circumvented these interdictions. In the 20th century the carnival was prohibited on three occasions: during the two world wars and in 1962 during a smallpox epidemic. However, despite these numerous obstacles, the ''Malmédiens'' succeeded in saving their tradition which is still going on today. The name of the Malmedy carnival originates in the Latin word ''quadragesima'', shortened to ''quaresima'', which means forty. Forty represents the number of days that separates

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

from

Holy Week Holy Week () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...

. The word quaresima grew and turned into the French word ''Carême'' and the Walloon word ''Cwarmê''. In a lot of places on the planet, people celebrate

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

, called after the enormous quantity of food absorb before the deprivation of Lent. It is the definitive day of carnival. In Malmedy, Mardi Gras is the last day of the carnival. This is why the date of Easter determines when the Cwarmê will be celebrated each year. The ''Cwarmê'' requires months of preparation: the making of costumes, the writing of the roles, the preparation of the vehicles for the parade, and so forth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cwarme Malmedy Carnivals in Belgium Spring (season) in Belgium