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The Carnival of Tilff

The Carnival of Tilff takes place every year during the festival of Laetare on the 4th Sunday of Lent. It is also called “le Laetare of Tilff”.

It takes place in Tilff, a tourist town located at the edge of the Ourthe. In 2018, the 67th edition took place on March 11.

Presentation This carnival existed since 1952. The apothéosis of this carnival is the great procession of Laetare that includes a thousand costumed participants, 8 giants, 10 fanfares and many floats. The emblematic group of the carnival is the group of “les Porais Tilffois” which participate at the carnival since the second edition. The carnival of Tilff is a synthesis of several Walloon folklores events and carnivals : it takes place during the Laetare like the carnival of Stavelot; it is headed by a carnival prince like the carnivals of the Eastern Townships; the procession counts several giants as at the ducasse of Ath and it ends with a final rondeau like the carnival of Binche.

History At the end of the sixteenth century, the village of Tilff had among its inhabitants an outstanding gardener named Djösef li r’Pikeû (Joseph the “Replanter”) who developed a fertilizer capable of growing leeks of decent size. At that time, the tithe, a taks leving one-tenth of the grain harvest was in application. In 1585 as the grain harvest was not a success, the Prince-Bishop of Liège lets the Tilffois replace the cereals by leeks. Thanks to the size of the leeks, the quantity was enormous. The Tilffois complained but they had to deliver this heavy tithe to the agreed place. Unfortunately, during the night, half of the leeks had disappeared without any trace of break-in, what made the representative of the Prince-Bishop said: “Did your leeks had legs? Because they escape without the help of anyone?” So was born the story of leeks (in Walloon : Porais) of Tilff.

Folk group The current folk group of “Porais Tilffois” was inspired by this story. The costumes represent the leek with his three colors : the balaclava finished with leek greens and green serrated, the white overalls, the bells belt and the legs covered with beuge raffia representing the roots. The Porais are accompanied by a fanfare of nine music-loving gardeners and by Djôsef li r’Pikeû, a 4,3 meter giant. They regularly participate in other Belgian and European carnivals.They have been present at the Carnival of Tilff since 1953. In the middle of a roundabout near the bridge of Tilff, you can see a statue representing a Porais.

Absence during the 65th edition In 2016 and for the first time since the beginning of their participation, the Porais Tilffois were absent from the event because of a financial disagreement with the “ASBL Folklore Tillfois”, organizer of the carnival. The later states that despite the reputation of the Porais it can not favor one folk group over another and deplore this blocking situation. The Porais say that they have never made money on any carnival. They rather see this event as a quality family party that they want to perpetrate. An agreement was found and the Porais were back at the 2017’s edition.