Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Home

The Travel Magazine

January 2007

Written by Greg Rondelli

Mardi Gras is a time-honored tradition that must be experienced to be understood. It’s a combination of centuries - old traditions and high-tech innovations. From the unrestrained behavior of Bourbon Street to the celebration of family outside the French Quarter area, Mardi Gras in New Orleans truly defies description.

Carnival season begins each year on January 6, the Twelfth Night Feast of the Epiphany or King’s Day, symbolizing the day the three kings visited the Christ Child.

Carnival season precedes the repentant season of Lent, when fasting replaces feasting. A popular Mardi Gras pastry, the “King Cake,” also appears; these coffeecake-type pastries are decorated in Mardi Gras colors and are abundant until Mardi Gras Day. A tiny plastic baby is baked into the cake, and by tradition, the person who receives the piece of cake with the baby inside provides the next King Cake.

While several “pre-season” parades have become quite abundant, local parish ordinances dictate that the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade season officially begins on the second Friday before Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). During the 12-day period prior to Mardi Gras, nearly 70 parades are held on weekends and evenings in the four-parish area of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Tammany.

For almost two centuries, New Orleans’annual Fat Tuesday celebration has been synonymous with adult entertainment. Mardi Gras’ steamier side is alive and well in the French Quarter, but a kinder, gentler Carnival experience is really what it’s about for locals in the surrounding areas outside the French Quarter.

Parades in the uptown, mid-city and metropolitan areas are where locals and their families and friends celebrate the Carnival season.

Organized Mardi Gras parades were first reported by local newspapers in 1837, but the first of the famous organizations or “krewes” did not appear until 20 years later. It was in 1857 that the Mistick Krewe of Comus first lit the city with its blazing “flambeaux” or torches. Rex made his debut on Feb. 13, 1872, and became the monarch ruler of Carnival Day. Rex was the first daytime parade and the first to introduce the official Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold. The purple stands for justice, the green for faith, and the gold for power.

Masked revelers on the floats, marchers and horseback riders respond to the age-old cry, “Throw me something, Mister!” by literally tossing tons of beads, toys, trinkets and doubloons (coins minted for each krewe, and collected by many locals). Nearly all Carnival parades follow a standard format, normally with the captain appearing at the head of the procession, either on a special float, in a convertible or on horseback. Next come the officers, the king or queen, followed by the title float and the floats that carry riding members. An 18-float procession of a 200-member krewe may have more than 75 units. When band members, dance groups, clown units and motorcycle squadrons are added up, it is not uncommon for participants to total more than 3,000.

The royalty of each krewe is honored at a formal ball (called a ball masque). It consists of a royal court with a king and queen, maids and pages and the like, who are presented in lavish costumes to an audience of guests. These balls are not open to the public.

Tickets cannot be purchased, and admission is by invitation only. Those who are fortunate enough to be invited must bear in mind that this is a royal occasion—tuxedos or tails for the gentlemen and floorlength gowns for the ladies.

Super-krewes such as Bacchus, Endymion and Orpheus, scheduled for the three days before Fat Tuesday, feature a combined total of 110 floats, 90 marching bands and more than 350 units. Their collective 3,500 members toss more than 2 million cups, 3.5 million doubloons and 350,000 gross of beads.

Lundi Gras is the day before Fat Tuesday. The city hosts a splashy bash at the Spanish Plaza outside the Riverwalk. The mayor is on hand, and there is live entertainment and fireworks.

Rex and Zulu arrive by riverboat. They help to usher in the final 24 hours of Mardi Gras. Like most of Carnival, this event is free and open to the public.

Carnival ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday. The crowds are cleared from streets at the stroke of midnight by police, and the cleaning “krewes” of New Orleans begin their own type of parade. Early Wednesday (Ash Wednesday), penitents form lines outside churches to receive the cross of ashes on their foreheads.

The streets are cleaned, all remnants of the floats and costumes are stored, and the party’s over…until next year! For more information, visit www.neworleanscvb.com. Mardi Gras Dates: