Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is without a doubt Louisiana’s oldest celebrated holiday. French explorers and brothers Bienville and Iberville established their first encampment on the Louisiana gulf coast on Mardi Gras day 1699. They named the spot Point du Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras was originally a pagan holiday to celebrate the Winter Solstice until the Christians incorporated it into their Easter story. Early Christians would fast or sacrifice for forty days prior to Easter during what became know as the carnival: Latin for “farewell to flesh.” The day prior to its Ash Wednesday start was a day of fun and gluttony and became known as Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans society became ranked by which Mardi Gras organization, or krewe, in which one was a member. For the elite Creoles and Americans, the Krewes of Comus, Rex, Momus, and Proteus gave members excellent credentials and business connections. Members would meet for masquerade balls and informal parades. In 1857, formal parades with marching bands and horse drawn floats took to the city. Jazz bands and marching clubs formed to add the New Orleans sound to the festivities, and flambeaux, young African-American men carrying torches for tips, walked along side of floats to bring light to evening parades.

It was not long before neighborhoods throughout the city began forming krewes and holding parades. Today, dozens of krewes march throughout the city and suburbs in the two weeks leading up to Mardi Gras day. It is good to keep in mind, as New Orleanians do, that Mardi Gras is just one day; Carnival is the season. The season traditionally begins on the Catholic King’s Day, January 6th, or the Feast of the Epiphany. This was the day, twelve days after Christmas, when the kings visited the manger of Jesus. On this day, bakeries across the city begin selling King Cakes, brightly colored sugary cakes that have a small plastic baby baked inside to represent the baby Jesus. Cakes are eaten at work, school, or at King Cake parties. Tradition has it that whoever gets the baby in their piece of cake has to buy the next cake, typically for next week’s party. New Orleans is a city that seems to constantly celebrate.

Mardi Gras day has of late drawn over two million people onto the streets of the city for its all day parading. The day starts at 8:00 am with the Krewe of Zulu, an African-American krewe originally formed to make fun of the white krewes. Following Zulu is Rex, the King of Carnival. And then following Rex is the 400 float truck parades of the Krewes of Elks and Crescent City. This portion of the parade consists of families who elaborately decorate the trailers of 18 wheel trucks and ride the parade route with family, friends, and neighbors. This parade will last hours and the revelers will stand and catch bags full of throws consisting of beads, doubloons, cups, and other trinkets. And it is merely a myth and a ratings grabber that one has to expose a body part to obtain beads. If you see that happen, you can count on the fact that it is a naïve tourist that has exposed themselves. A real New Orleanian would never do such a thing. The day ends with the Mystic Krewe of Comus and the meeting of the kings of Rex and Comus.

Hurricane Katrina has temporarily changed Mardi Gras. Although Mardi Gras was held as planned—to cancel it would be like canceling Christmas. The 2006 crowd was much smaller, but still very enthusiastic. There is little doubt that the carnival season and Mardi Gras will return to its full glory within a few years. It is more than a way to lure tourists into the city. It is part of the fabric of the city and the people who live there.