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New Orleans Mardi Gras is Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of the most famous Carnival celebrations in the world.

The New Orleans Carnival season, with roots in Catholic ritual, starts on Twelfth Night (January 6). The season of parades, balls (some of them masquerade balls), and king cake parties begins on that date.

From about two weeks before, through Fat Tuesday, there is at least one major parade each day. The largest and most elaborate parades take place the last five days of the season. In the final week of Carnival many events large and small occur throughout New Orleans and surrounding communities.

The parades in New Orleans are organized by Carnival krewes. Krewe float riders toss throws to the crowds; the most common throws are strings of cheap colorful beads, doubloons (aluminium or wooden dollar-sized coins usually impressed with a krewe logo), decorated plastic throw cups, and small inexpensive toys. Major krewes follow the same parade schedule and route each year.

While many tourists center their Mardi Gras season activities on Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, however, since 1979 none of the major Mardi Gras parades enter the Quarter because of its narrow streets and overhead obstructions. Also, at least once a year, someone would be seriously injured or crushed by a float because of the surging crowds. Instead, major parades originate in the Uptown and Mid-City districts and follow a route along St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street, on the upriver side of the French Quarter.

To New Orleanians, "Mardi Gras" refers only to the final and most elaborate day of the Carnival Season; visitors tend to refer to the entire Carnival as "Mardi Gras." Some locals have thus started to refer to the final day of Carnival as "Mardi Gras Day" to avoid confusion.

History

Mardi Gras was brought to Louisiana by early French settlers. The first record of the holiday being marked in Louisiana is 1699. The starting date of festivities in New Orleans is unknown, but an account from 1743 notes that the custom of Carnival balls was already established by that date. Processions and masking in the streets on Mardi Gras Day took place, were sometimes prohibited by law, and were quickly renewed whenever such restrictions were lifted or enforcement waned.

On Mardi Gras of 1857 the Mystic Krewe of Comus held its first parade. While Comus is the oldest continuously active Mardi Gras organization, Comus was neither the beginning New Orleans Mardi Gras, nor the first New Orleans Mardi Gras parade. It did, however, start a number of continuing traditions, and is considered the first Carnival krewe in the modern sense.

War, economic, political, and weather conditions sometimes led to cancellation of some or all major parades, especially during the American Civil War and World War II, but celebration of Carnival has always been observed in the city.

1972 was the last year in which large parades went though the narrow streets of the city's old French Quarter neighborhood; larger floats and crowds and safety concerns led the city government to prohibit big parades in the Quarter.

In 1979 the New Orleans police department went on strike. All the official parades were canceled or moved to surrounding communities such as Jefferson Parish. Significantly fewer tourists than usual came to the city. Masking, costuming, and celebrations continued anyway, with National Guard troops maintaining order. Guardsmen prevented crimes against persons or property but made no attempt to enforce laws regulating morality or drug use; for these reasons, some in the French Quarter bohemian community are fond of calling 1979 the city's best Mardi Gras ever.

In 1991 the New Orleans city council passed an ordinance that required social organizations, including Mardi Gras Krewes, to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licensure. In effect, the ordinance required these, and other, private social groups to abandon their traditional code of secrecy and identify their members for the city's Human Relations Commission. In protest, the 19th century krewes Comus and Momus stopped parading. Proteus did parade in the 1992 Carnival season but subsequently also suspended its parade for a time, but its membership ultimately decided to abide by the council resolution, and Proteus returned to the parade schedule.

Two federal courts later declared that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association, and an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy of the groups subject to the ordinance. The decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals appears at volume 42, page 1483 of the Federal Reporter (3rd Series), or 42 F.3d 1483 (5th Cir. 1995). The Supreme Court refused to hear the city's appeal from this decision.

Today, many krewes operate under a business structure; membership is basically open to anyone who pays dues to have a place on a parade float. In contrast, the old-line krewes use the structure of the parades and balls to extend the traditions of the debutante season in their social circles.

The effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in late 2005 caused many to question the future of the city's Mardi Gras celebrations. The city government, essentially bankrupt after the storm, pushed for a massively scaled back celebration to limit strains on city services. However many Krewes insisted that they wanted to and would be ready to parade, so negotiations between krewe leaders and city officials resulted in a compromise schedule scaled back but less severely than originally suggested. The 2006 New Orleans Carnival schedule included the Krewe du Vieux on its traditional route through Marigny and the French Quarter on February 11th, the Saturday 2 weekends before Mardi Gras, then several parades the Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th a week before Mardi Gras, followed by 6 days of parades Thursday night through Mardi Gras Day. Other than Krewe du Vieux and two Westbank parades going through Algiers, all parades were restricted to the Saint Charles Avenue Uptown to Canal Street route, a section of the city which escaped significant flooding (some krewes unsuccessfully pushed to parade on their traditional Mid City route, despite the severe flood damage suffered by that neighborhood). Restrictions were placed on time parades can be on the street and how late at night they can end. Louisiana State troopers and National Guards assisted with crowd control for the first time since 1979. Many floats had been partially submerged in the floodwaters for weeks; while some krewes repaired and removed all traces of these effects, others incorporated flood lines and other damage into the designs of the floats. Few if any of the locals who worked on the floats and rode on them were not significantly impacted by the storm's aftermath, and many had lost most or all of the possessions in their homes, but enthusism for Carnival was if anything even more intense than usual as an affirmation of life. The themes of many costumes and floats were more barbed satire than usual, with commentary on the trials and tribulations of living in the devastated city and mocking FEMA, local, and national politicians.

Traditional colors
Meaning of Colors
Justice (purple)
Faith (green)
Power (gold)

The traditional color of Mardi Gras are purple, gold, and green. These are said to have been chosen in 1892, when the Rex Parade theme "Symbolism of Colors" gave the colors their meanings. The colors in turn influenced the official colors of Louisiana State University (purple and gold) and Tulane University (blue and green). According to lore, fans of Louisiana State University, prior to a match against Tulane in New Orleans, sought a color to purchase while in the City. As purple, green and gold were prominent in the city, the LSU fans bought pruple and gold as it wasn't green and would later adopt the colors as their official colors. Before and during Mardi Gras, purple, green, and gold fabric is certainly abundant.

Contemporary Mardi Gras

Each year; the Mardi Gras (or Carnival) season starts on January 6, also known as "Twelfth Night." The Twelfth Night Revelers, one of Carnival's oldest Krewes, holds a masked ball each year to mark the occasion. Like Twelfth Night Revelers, many of Carnival's oldest groups -- such as the Elves of Oberon and the High Priests of Mithras -- hold masked balls, but do not parade in public.

The parade season starts off some three weekends before Mardi Gras Day with the Krewe du Vieux parade.

There is usually at least one parade every night starting two Fridays before Mardi Gras.

The weekend before Mardi Gras

The population of New Orleans more than doubles with visitors this day. Friday night sees the large Krewe of Hermes and satirical Krewe D'Etat parades, as well as small neighborhood parades like the French Quarter Fairy Fey Parade and the Krewe of OAK. Several daytime parades roll on Saturday (including Krewe of Tucks) and Sunday (Okeanos and Thoth). The first of the "super krewes," Endymion, parades on Saturday night, with the celebrity-led Bacchus parade on Sunday night.

Lundi Gras

Monday is known as "Lundi Gras" ("Fat Monday"). The monarchs of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club and Krewe of Rex (who will parade the following day) arrive on the Mississippi River front at the foot of Canal Street, where an all-day party is staged. Uptown parades start with the Krewe of Proteus (dating back to 1882, the second oldest still parading in the city) followed by the music-themed super-Krewe Krewe of Orpheus on Monday night.

Mardi Gras Day

Celebrations begin early on Mardi Gras Day. Uptown, the Zulu parade rolls first, followed by the Rex parade, which both end on Canal Street. A number of smaller parading organizations with "truck floats" follow the Rex parade.

Numerous smaller parades and walking clubs also parade around the city. The Jefferson City Buzzards, the Lion's Club, and Pete Fountain's Half Fast Walking Club all start early in the day Uptown and make their way to the French Quarter with at least one jazz band. At the other end of the old city, the Society of Saint Anne journeys from the Bywater through Marigny and the French Quarter to meet Rex on Canal Street. The Pair-O-Dice Tumblers rambles from bar to bar in Marigny and the French Quarter from noon to dusk. Various groups of Mardi Gras Indians, divided into uptown and downtown tribes, parade in their finery.

The end of each Mardi Gras

The formal end of Mardi Gras arrives with "the Meeting of the Courts," a term describing the ceremony at which Rex and His Royal Consort, the King and Queen of Carnival, meet with the King and Queen of the Mistick Krewe of Comus, New Orleans' oldest active Carnival organization. The Meeting of the Courts happens at the conclusion of the two groups' masked balls, which in modern times have both been held at New Orleans' Municipal Auditorium. In 2006, following hurricane Katrina, the Final Ball was held in the Marriot Hotel.

Promptly at the stroke of midnight at the end of Fat Tuesday, a mounted squad of New Orleans police officers make a show of clearing upper Bourbon Street where the bulk of out-of-town revelers congregate, announcing that Mardi Gras is over, as it is the start of Lent.

As Mardi Gras is observed by many New Orleanians who are not Roman Catholic, so too many non-Catholics also follow the custom of giving up certain pleasures, such as chocolate or liquor, for Lent. It is also considered inappropriate and disrespectful to wear Mardi Gras beads during Lent.

Ash Wednesday, the day after Fat Tuesday, is sometimes jokingly referred to as "Trash Wednesday" because of the amount of refuse typically left in the streets by the previous day's celebrations. The tons of garbage picked up by the city sanitation department is a local news item and reflects the economic impact of each year's Mardi Gras.

Costumes and masks

Costumes and masks are seldom publicly worn by non-Krewe members on the days before Fat Tuesday (other than at parties), but are frequently worn on Mardi Gras Day. Laws against concealing one's identity with a mask are suspended for the day. Banks are closed, and some places with security concerns post signs asking people to remove their masks before entering.

Commercialization

Orleans Parish has laws prohibiting any form of commercial advertising on Carnival parades. Mardi Gras is a traditional holiday, so there is no such thing as an official Mardi Gras product or sponsor, any more than there can be, say, an official sponsor of Christmas. Nonetheless, many merchants sell so-called "official" merchandise to visiting tourists. Some individual krewes do, however, produce an official poster of their organization each year.

The one exception to this is the 2006 Mardi Gras season. Due to budget problems following Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans offered the opportunity for four companies to become the first corporate sponsors of Mardi Gras. National media buying club MediaBuys.com was selected by the city to locate sponsors in a 30 day window.

Glad was the only company to take the offer in the short time period. In addition to its significant program commitment, Glad worked with the City of New Orleans Department of Sanitation in the carnival's sanitation maintenance and clean-up efforts, which would otherwise have mounted a considerable expense for the municipality.

Had the city not come to this decision, Mardi Gras 2006 might have been cancelled. This was a first in the carnival's 150-year history.

Beads

Inexpensive strings of beads and toys have been thrown from floats to parade-goers since at least the late 19th century. Until the 1960s, the most common form was multi-colored strings of glass beads made in Czechoslovakia. These were supplanted by cheaper and less fragile plastic beads, first from Hong Kong, then from Taiwan, and more recently from China. Lower-cost beads and toys allow riders to purchase much greater quantities, hence throws have become more numerous and common.

In the 1990s, many people lost interest in small, cheap beads, often leaving them where they landed on the ground. Larger, more elaborate metallic beads and strands with figures of animals, people, or other objects have become the sought-after throws. David Redmon's documentary film (2005) titled MARDI GRAS: MADE IN CHINA (74 minutes), carefully follows the historical development of beads from a small factory in Fuzhou, China to the streets of New Orleans during Carnival.

Other Mardi Gras Traditions

Doubloons

One of the many Mardi Gras throws, doubloons are large coins, either plastic or metal, that are usually colored in the Mardi Gras colors, and are tossed into the crowd by the various Krewes. Although they have been around for many years, the current doubloons were introduces in 1960 by the Rex Krewe as a throw. These coins portray the Krewe's emblem, name, and founding date on one side, and the theme and year of the parade and ball on the other side. When they were introduced to the Rex Krewe in 1960, the Rex captian wasn't sure if the other members of the Krewe would like them, and between 1960 and 1970, 2.75 million doubloons were thrown by Rex. Doubloons with a date are fairly valuable.

The Flambeaux Carriers

Pronounced flahm-bow. The flambeaux was originally a carrier that served as a beacon for parage-goers to better enjoy the spectacle of night festivities Now they are used in modern parades, not just to light the way but as an example of performance art.

The King Cake

The first week of January in New Orleans starts the King Cake season. King Cakes first appeared after 1872, when the Rex Krewe selected the Mardi Gras colors (purple, green and gold). The traditional King Cake is a coffee cake, and is oblong and braided. It is iced with a simple icing and covered with purple, green and gold sugar. Each cake contains a hidden bean or baby doll, and custom tells that whoever finds it must either buy the next King Cake or throw the next King Cake Party. One Mardi Gras organization uses the King Cake tradition to choose the queen of its annual ball. Hundreds of King Cake parties are thrown every year and hundreds of thousands of cakes are made, bought and eaten every year. One of the most famous makers of King Cakes is Maurice French Pastries.

Mardi Gras Icons

  • The Faces of Comedy and Drama
  • Feathered Masks
  • Fleur de Lis
  • Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!
  • Throw me something, Mister!

The Zulu Mardi Gras Coconut

One of the most famous and the most sought after throw, is the Zulu Coconut, also known as the Golden Nugget, and the Mardi Gras Coconut. The coconut was mentioned as far back as 1910, where they were given in a natural "hairy" state. The coconut is a cheap alternative, especially in 1910 when the bead throws were made of glass. Before the Zulu Krewe threw their famous coconuts, they threw walnuts that were painted gold. This is where the name "Golden Nugget" originally came from. It is thought that Zulu switched from walnuts to coconuts in the early 1920's when Lloyd Lucus started to paint coconuts. Most of the coconuts have teo decorations. The first is painted gold with added glitter, and the second is painted like the famous black Zulu faces. In recent years, the coconuts have been found to be the cause of many lawsuits, from people being hit with the 11 pound flying object. They were banned from being thrown in 1988 and may are now handed out.

Standards of Decency

In the last decade of the 20th century, commercial videotapes catering to voyeurs helped encourage a tradition of baring breasts in exchange for beads and trinkets. Many non-residents now associate this activity more than any other with Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

While standards of what is considered "indecent exposure" might be relaxed during Mardi Gras, and women showing their breasts to encourage receiving beads is documented since the 1960s, the practice was mostly limited to tourists in the upper Bourbon Street area. Until recent years, New Orleans police tolerated women flashing their breasts in the French Quarter if the display did not cause public disruption, but would arrest people for more explicit nudity. In the last couple of years, however, police have been cracking down on such actions, reasoning that flashing can incite acts of indecency against women who expose themselves.

Outside of the French Quarter, attitudes are much less lenient. While many visiting tourists think of Mardi Gras as an "adult" holiday; for most local residents it is a time of family traditions; indeed, many view the parades mainly as sources of enjoyment for children. Many families with very young children gather along the parade routes Uptown and in Mid City. In these areas, nudity, public drunkenness and other bad behavior is discouraged and could lead to quick arrest.

Additional photographs

External links

Festivals in the United States | Louisiana culture | New Orleans culture | New Orleans Mardi Gras | Parades | Carnival

Mardi Gras | New Orleans Mardi Gras

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "New Orleans Mardi Gras".

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