It is 4 o'clock in the morning on this March Sunday. Spring sunshine is already breaking through the trees, buds opening and the birds song each morning is ever more present. In the light mist, one Gille and his suite are approaching a house door. Suddenly, the door opens and a big smile appears through the partially opened door. The air is thin, the sun venturing through the clouds but the Gille is already savouring his happiness totally at the joy to find the Laetare back. All at once, the base drum stops its punctuation and the sweet and sour sound of a little clarinet percolates in the street. The dawn serenade is played for the Gille and its suite and its already numerous followers. Champagne is awaiting on the table at that time and the corks are already popping. Everybody is embracing each other, congratulating and exchanging salutations : "Merry Carnival !".
Very soon, it is time to leave the cosy warmth of the house in order to collect other Gilles. One serves a last flute of champagne just before departure. From house to house, what initiated people call the "ramassage" (Collection) grows.
Laetare Sunday. From 4 o'clock in the morning, the collections go from house to house> They keep on growing to finally converge to the City Centre where bit by bit the Gilles society takes form (Gilles Society "Les Boute-en-train". Studios Carole Heymans)
At the City Centre, the collections gather together, everyone of them representing a neighbourhood of the City : Mitant des Camps, Bouvy, Le Hocquet, La Basse-Louvière, La Croyère, ..It goes in that way for each of the Gilles societies : the "Indépendants" (the Independants), the "Amis Réunis" (the United Friends), the "Maugrétout", the "Boute-en-Train", the Gilles of Bouvy and the "Commerçants" (Traders). Some of those societies are fortified with more than two hundred members and count more than 120 years of existence.
Laetare Sunday, around 7 o'clock. The Gilles pounded the ground with their clogs. The brass orchestra is not yet there, one can only hear the rhythmic roll which tirelessly comes back. It is the "Avant-Dîner" (Before lunch) (Gilles society "Les Commerçants" (The Traders), Studios J.-B. Boels, Jolimont).
Bit by bit, the drum roll and the "apertintailles" chiming wake La Louvière up. It is the insistent but dear to the "Carnavaleux" heart (People attending the Carnival) chorus. The term dialect-speaking "Carnavaleux" defines the best at that moment the real osmosis between the direct participants, Gilles or other, drummers, followers whose number does not stop growing. At that moment, the Gilles hold in their hands the "ramon", made of willow twigs hugged tightly and hide their faces behind the traditional wax masks, abolishing by that gesture the differences which bygone days were dividing people so much.
Very soon, it is 10 o'clock and the "masked rondo" is formed. A space is created within the crowd, where only the drummers and the clarinettist are allowed. The Gille grabs his nearest friend's ramon and a long and colourful snake stands out and pounds on the ground, awakening with folklore the ground numbed of winter. The clarinet is enchanting a last time before giving way to the brass bands. It is then 10:30 a.m. and the Gille put on his majestic ostrich feather hat. He also throws blood oranges which burst forth, a symbolic offering, to the music of the 25 Gilles tunes that the musicians break into.
The Gilles societies, the Peasants of the Baume school as well as the fancy societies among which the "Bî-Contins" (the Very Glad"), head for the Place Communale. There, in a splendid and luminous rondeau all the participants celebrate the found back spring and turn this end of the morning into a privileged instant where time seems to stop. The Laetare is now on its top on this Sunday and soon it is time for the La Louvière inhabitants and their guests to share the meal which has been prepared by the wife, totally in complete support to her husband passion.
Laetare Sunday, 12:00 p.m. The Rondeau on the Place Communale is a magnificent spectacle. The Laetare is on its top as one can see on this picture taken from the Town hall balcony (Sunday 5 March 1989, photograph Picqueur).
In the afternoon the Gilles gather together once again up to the Bengal lights Rondeau which terminates this first day of Carnival. It is 9:00 p.m. and it is then a magical moment where the costumes light up within the glimmering red light and the lightly acrid smoke of the Bengal lights. At the same time, the fireworks explodes in a myriad of colours on the Place Communale. The Gille character is then transcended : the whiteness of his collaret sparkles in the night, the heraldic lions of Hainaut come to life on his costume and the baskets - turned upside down as they are devoid of oranges at that time - give rhythm to the drums cadence.
After the rondeau, the Gille is escorted back to his house by his drummer which is in the opposite direction to the one of the collection which then follows. He is going to rest before starting the sumptuous day of the Laetare.
Download MP3 version of the "Avant-Dîner"
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