Zimagal Monthly Magazine - Volume One, Issue Nine

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday" in French, was celebrated in the Christian countries of Europe long before the founding of the Crescent City. Initially only the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season, the season was stretched to cover the time from the beginning of January until the day itself. But this was because the residents of New Orleans take their parties seriously.

Historians say that Mardi Gras was observed by masked balls and bawdy street processions in New Orleans as early as the 1700s. By 1806, the festivities had gotten so rowdy that Mardi Gras celebrations were forbidden, but by all accounts, this law was summarily ignored. There is much debate as to whether the first formal parade was held in 1835 or 1838, but no matter, the parades that traversed the muddy streets are said to have been wicked and satirical. The first krewe to parade was the Mystick Krewe of Comus.

Much of the pomp employed by the old krewes comes from the entertainments planned in 1872 when the Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff came to New Orleans at carnival time in hot pursuit of actress Lydia Thompson. Forty businessmen got together and founded the Krewe of Rex, mounting a daytime parade in the archduke's honor. The Romanoff household colors-purple (signifying justice), green (faith), and gold (power) - were adopted as the official Carnival colors.

The period between January 6 and Ash Wednesday is filled with some 60 Carnival parades, particularly during the two and a half weeks preceeding Mardi Gras. But the four-day Carnival weekend is when parading reaches its crescendo. Among those held during the four-day weekend are two super-parades - the Endymion parade on Saturday, which bills itself as the largest non-military parade in the world, and the Bacchus parade on Sunday. Taken together, these krewes have a combined membership of 2,300 men, and each year toss to bystanders more than 1.5 million cups, 2.5 million doubloons, and 200,000 gross of beads.

Anything goes on Mardi Gras Day. Everyone dons flamboyant costumes or bizarre make-up. Locals and out-of-towners stroll the streets dressed as packs of tap-dancing perfume bottles, the Beatles, Elvis, Pharaohs and mythological creatures, French Revolutionaries leading Marie Antoinette to the guillotine, and troupes of topless clowns. Also during this time, the French Quarter hosts one of the most elaborate gay beauty-and-costume contests in the world.

Throughout the parades, masked riders stand atop two and three tiered papier-mache, tractor-towed constructions from which they throw plastic cups, panties, and beads, as well as metal doubloons inscribed with the logo of the krewe, to the eager crowd. The riders often spend over $1,000. on their individual stock of "throws" to give out during the parade.

In the early days of the festivities, merry-makers used to carry bags of flour that they would throw at each other. When a mischievous few mixed pepper with their flour, the practice had to be discontinued and safer things thrown. Probably the most valued throws are the hand-painted coconuts tossed by the krewe of Zulu. Onlookers vie energetically - sometimes boldly - to catch the most "stuff". In recent years, it's become more commonplace for women to expose their breasts than to shout the conventional phrase, "Throw me something Mister!" in return for a long strand of faux pearls.

The estimated size of the Mardi Gras crowd is based on the amount of trash generated. A good crowd is one that has produced 2,000 or more tons of refuse. Each parade is followed by the Sanitation Department with its street sweepers, water and brush trucks, and blowers. Watching them is almost as much fun as watching the parade.