It seems that, as of Christian antiquity, the fourth Sunday of Lent , known as Sunday of Lætare , covered the special character of a pause in the middle of the Lent (just as Sunday of Gaudete during the Avent).

The Roman liturgy, which suspends the exercises pénitentiels Sunday (it for what the Lent counts forty six days there), the mark all the same of a certain austerity (suppression of Gloria and Alleluia at the time of the mass, purple ornaments, disappearance of the flowers and the musical instruments) that it moderates at Sunday of Lætare where it takes the pink ornaments (color of the dawn), which marks, in the middle of these times of penitence, a pause where the Church aims to better doing to foresee the joy than it prepares and to give courage for the last stages to traverse and return grace for already accomplished works.

Formerly, the Pope, contrary to other Sundays of the Lent, came to horse to the station which, this day, was done in Holy-Cross-of-Jerusalem where the glorious Cross was venerated.

Formerly, where one was more attentive than to today conform the environment of the worship to the spirit of the celebrated liturgy, one could, this Sunday, contrary to other Sundays of the Lent, to avoid the furnace bridge of flowers, to sound all the bells and to touch the organ whereas the deacons and the sub-deacons took the tunic and dalmatic which they had given up at the beginning of the Lent.

It is on this occasion that the pope carries out the handing-over of the Rose of gold, intended to honor with the sovereigns or the catholic sanctuaries

The lætare

The lætare (here with female, the word being used elsewhere with the masculine) is a celebrated traditional festival with Stavelot, in Wallonia, Sunday of Lætare. It is a tradition multiséculaire tonic at 1502.

One can see there the traditonnelle figure of the White-Moussis vêtus of the cape and the cap white, affublés of the long red nose and surrounding their giants, their ladders and their tanks blowers of confettis. These festivities last three days (of the Saturday to Monday evening).

Since 1947, the White-Moussis, set up as a worthy brotherhood with knighthood of honor to the glowing costumes, play a big role in the life of the city. They became the dynamic ambassadors of the Belgian folklore and their presence as guests of honor to the carnivals of Düsseldorf, Cologne, Compiegne, Saint-Quentin… contributed to the reputation of the town of Stavelot.