New Orleans'
carnival
season - which
starts on Twelfth
Night and runs for the
six weeks or so until
Ash Wednesday - is
unlike any other in
the world. Though the
name is used to define
the entire season,
Mardi
Gras itself,
French for "Fat
Tuesday," is
simply the culmination
of a whirl of parades,
parties, street revels
and masked balls, all
inextricably tied up
with the city's
labyrinthine social,
racial and political
structures. Mardi Gras
was introduced to New
Orleans in the 1740s,
when
French
colonists brought over
the European custom,
established since
medieval times, of
marking the imminence
of Lent with masking
and feasting. Their
slaves, meanwhile,
continued to celebrate
African and
Caribbean
festival traditions,
based on musical
rituals, masking and
elaborate costumes,
and the three
eventually fused. From
early days carnival
was known for
cavorting, outrageous
costumes, drinking and
general bacchanalia,
and little has
changed. However,
although it is the
busiest tourist season
- when the city is
invaded by millions -
Mardi Gras has always
been, above all, a
party that New
Orleanians throw for
themselves. Visitors
are wooed, welcomed,
and showed the time of
their lives, but
without them carnival
would reel on
regardless, dressing
wildly, drinking and
dancing its bizarre
way into Lent.
It was in the
mid-nineteenth century
that official
carnival took its
current form, with the
appearance in 1857 of
a stately moonlit
procession calling
itself the Krewe of
Comus, Merrie Monarch
of Mirth .
Initiated by a group
of Anglo-Americans,
the concept of the
" krewes
," or secret
carnival clubs, was
taken up
enthusiastically by
the New Orleans
aristocracy, many of
them white
supremacists who,
after the Civil War,
used their satirical
float designs and the
shroud of secrecy to
mock and undermine
Reconstruction.
Nowadays about sixty
official krewes equip
colorful floats,
leading huge
processions on
different - often
mythical - themes.
Each is reigned over
by a King and Queen
(an older, politically
powerful man and a
debutante), who go on
to preside over the
krewes' closed, masked
balls. There are
women-only krewes;
"super krewes,"
with members drawn
from the city's new
wealth (barred from
making inroads into
the gentlemen's club
network of the
old-guard krewes); gay
krewes and important black
groups. The best known
of these is Zulu
, established in 1909
when a black man
mocked Rex, King of
Carnival, by dancing
behind his float with
a tin can on his head;
today the Zulu parade
on Mardi Gras morning
is one of the most
popular of the season.
There are also many
alternative, or unofficial
krewes , including
the anarchic Krewe
du Vieux (from
Vieux Carré, another
term for the French
Quarter), whose
irreverent parade and
"ball" (a
polite term for a wild
party, open to all) is
the first of the
season. And then
there's the parade of
the Mystic Krewe of
Barkus , made up
of dogs, hundreds of
whom, during what is
surely the campest
parade of the season,
can be seen trotting
proudly through the
French Quarter all
spiffed up on some
spurious theme.
Tourists are less
likely to witness the Mardi
Gras Indians ,
African-American
groups who, in their
local neighborhoods,
organize themselves
into
"tribes"
and, dressed in
fabulous beaded and
feathered costumes,
gather on Mardi Gras
morning to compete in
chanting and dancing.
As in Sydney and Rio,
the gay
community also plays a
major part in Mardi
Gras, particularly in
the French Quarter,
where the streets teem
with strutting drag
divas.
One important New
Orleans Mardi Gras
ritual is the flinging
of " throws
" from the
floats. Teasing masked
krewe members scatter
beads, beakers and
doubloons (toy coins)
into the crowds, who
beg, plead and scream
for them. Souvenirs
vary in worth: the
bright, cheap strings
of beads are least
valuable, while the
bizarrely garbed
coconuts handed out by
Zulu are worth their
weight in gold. When
the parade is over,
tourists embark upon a
frantic bead-bartering
frenzy, which has
given rise to the
famed "Show Your
Tits!" phenomenon
- young co-eds pulling
up their shirts in
exchange for strings
of beads and roars of
boozy approval from
the goggling mobs.
Anyone keen to see the
show should head for
Bourbon Street.
The two weeks
leading up to Mardi
Gras are filled with
processions, parties
and balls, but
excitement reaches
fever pitch on Lundi
Gras , the day
before Mardi Gras.
Some of the city's
best musicians play at
Zulu 's free
party in Woldenberg
Park, which climaxes
at 5pm with the
arrival of the king
and queen by boat.
Following this, you
can head to the Plaza
d'España , where,
in a formal ceremony
unchanged for over a
century, the mayor
hands the city to Rex,
King of Carnival. The
party continues with
more live music and
fireworks, after which
people head off to
watch the big Orpheus
parade, or start a
frenzied evening of
clubbing. Most clubs
are still hopping well
into Mardi Gras
morning.
The fun starts
early on Mardi Gras
day, with walking
clubs striding
through uptown
accompanied by raucous
jazz on their
ritualized bar crawls.
Zulu, in theory, sets
off at 8.30am (but can
be as much as two
hours late), followed
by Rex. Ironically, by
the time Rex turns up,
many people have had
their fill of the
official parades. The
surreal St Ann
walking parade
gathers outside the R-Bar
at around 11am, while
the gay costume
competition known as
the Bourbon Street
awards gets going
at noon. In the
afternoon, hipsters
head to the Faubourg,
where Frenchmen
Street is ablaze
with bizarrely
costumed carousers.
The fun continues
throughout the Quarter
and the Faubourg until
midnight , when
a siren wail heralds
the arrival of a
cavalcade of mounted
police that sweeps
through Bourbon Street
and declares through
megaphones that Mardi
Gras is officially
over. Like all good
Catholic cities, New
Orleans takes carnival
very seriously.
Midnight marks the
onset of Lent, and
repentance can begin.
Other New
Orleans festivals
St Joseph's Day
, March 19. Sicilian
saint's day, at the
mid-point of Lent.
Families build massive
altars of food in
their homes, inviting
the public to come and
admire them and to
share food. The Sunday
closest to St Joseph's
("Super
Sunday") is the
only time outside
Mardi Gras that the
Mardi Gras Indians
take to the streets.
Spring Fiesta
, March/April (week
after Easter).
Five-day festival when
many of the loveliest
homes in the French
Quarter and Garden
District are open to
the public. It's all
rather genteel, with
guides rigged up in
hooped skirts and a
classical concert
series. Contact tel
504/581-1367.
French Quarter
Festival , early
April. Free three-day
music festival that
rivals Jazz Fest for
the quality and
variety of music on
offer. Stages and food
stalls, a jazz brunch
in Jackson Square,
tours of private
patios, free evening
gigs, parades and
talent contests.
Contact tel
504/522-5730 or .
Jazz and
Heritage Festival
(Jazz Fest) , end
of April/start of May
at the Fairgrounds
Race Track. Fabulous,
enormous festival,
with stages hosting
jazz, R&B, gospel,
African, Caribbean,
Cajun, blues, reggae,
funk, Mardi Gras
Indian and brass band
music, with evening
performances in clubs
all over town. Also
crafts and fantastic
food stalls. Contact
tel 504/522-4786.
