New Orleans Mardi Gras (
New Orleans Canival Season) draws millions
of fun-seekers and party people to the Big
Easy every year. Mardi Gras is always celebrated
in New Orleans on a larger then life scale.
Dazziling with beautiful masked balls and
colorful mardi Gras parades with Royalty
and throws and fantastic parade floats.
The two week long celebration
is a local and nation wide favorite holiday
to attend.
No one really Is actually
certain where or when the actual custom
called Mardi Gras really offically begain.
Some Mardi Gras Historians trace its magical
roots to the ancient Romans, whose pagan
rites and orgies were held during the early
spring season.
Louisianas' early French
that settled in New Orleans begain having
private Grande masked balls and social parties
as early as 1718. When the Spanish government
took over, parties and street dancing were
publicly banned. Not until 1827, well after
the Louisian Purchase, that the right to
party inpublic and mask was restored.
During the 1850's, New Orleans'
elite and their elegant Mardi Gras parties
were quite a contrast to the wild partying
and near-rioting in the streets.
In
1857, a secret society called the Mystick
Krewe of Comus formed
Comus
or Komus is the god of festivity, in Greek
mythology, he revels and nocturnal dalliances.
Comus represents anarchy and chaos. During
his festivals in Ancient Greece, men and
women exchanged clothes. Visually, Comus
was depicted as a young man or youth on
the point of unconsciousness from drink.
He had a wreath of flowers on his head and
carried a torch that was in the process
of being dropped. Unlike the purely carnal
Pan or the more purely drunken Bacchus,
Comus was a god of excess. He is a son of
Dionysus and Circe.
The Lord of Misrule, known
in Scotland as the Abbot of Unreason and
in France as the Prince des Sots was an
officer appointed by lot at Christmas to
preside over the Feast of Fools. The Lord
of Misrule was generally a peasant or sub-deacon
appointed to be in charge of Christmas revelries,
which often included drunkenness and wild
partying, in the pagan tradition of Yule.
The Church held a similar festival involving
a Boy Bishop. The celebration of the Feast
of Fools was outlawed by the Council of
Basel that sat from 1431, but it survived
to be put down again by the Catholic Queen
Mary I in England in 1555.
While mostly known as a
British holiday custom, the appointment
of a Lord of Misrule comes from antiquity.
In ancient Rome, from the 17th to the 23rd
of December, a Lord of Misrule was appointed
for the feast of Saturnalia, in the guise
of the good god Saturn. During this time
the ordinary rules of life were turned topsy-turvy
as masters served their slaves, and the
offices of state were held by slaves. The
Lord of Misrule presided over all of this,
and had the power to command anyone to do
anything during the holiday period. This
holiday seems to be the precursor to the
more modern Mardi Gras holiday, and it carried
over into the Christian era.
The Mystick Krewe
of Comus (founded in 1856) is a New Orleans,
Louisiana Carnival Krewe.
A
Krewe is an organization that puts on a parade
and or a ball for the New Orleans Carnival
season (Mardi Gras).
The
word is thought to have been coined in the
early 19th century by an organization calling
themselves Ye Mystick Krewe of Comus, as an
imitation or parody of Old English; with time
it became the most common term for a New Orleans
Carnival organization.
Prior to the advent
of Comus, Carnival celebrations in New Orleans
were mostly confined to the Roman Catholic
Creole community, and parades were irregular
and often very informally organized. In
December of 1856 a number of New Orleans
businessmen, mostly uptown Protestant Americans
from other parts of the United States, gathered
to found the organization to produce a parade
and ball on Mardi Gras night. The inspiration
for the name came from John Milton's Lord
of Misrule in his masque Comus. Part of
the inspiration for the parade was a Carnival
group in Mobile, Alabama called the Cowbellions.
The first Comus parade was held on Mardi
Gras 1857, and this became an annual event.
Other organizations sprung up in New Orleans
in the 19th century inspired by the Comus
model and also came to be known as "Krewes".
Members of Comus are
always masked when appearing in public at
Krewe events, and their identities are supposed
to remain unknown. Membership in Comus has
historically been identical or nearly identical
to membership in the private New Orleans
men's club The Pickwick Club.
Parading on Mardi
Gras night, Comus was the final parade of
the New Orleans carnival season. It was
much smaller than both the more modern parades
and its fellow 19th century Mardi Gras day
parade Rex. (Comus also did not stage parades
for a number of years, so that by the late
20th century Rex, although 16 years younger
than Comus, had held more parades.) The
Comus parades became known for their sometimes
obscure themes relating to ancient history
and mythology. While other New Orleans parades
might have themes like "Foods of the
World" or "Broadway Show Tunes",
Comus would present themes like "Serpent
Deities of the Ancient Near East".
In 1991 the New Orleans
city council passed an ordinance that city
funds could not be used to pay for police
and sanitation for any event held on public
streets by any organization which was racially
segregated according to its own bylaws.
The Comus organization (along with Momus,
another 19th century Krewe) decided to no
longer parade rather than to either change
their bylaws or pay for the municipal expenses
of their parade. The Mystick Krewe of Comus
still holds an annual ball on Mardi Gras
night. While the
Mistick Krewe of Comus
was originally a part of and associated
with the Pickwick Club, that association
ended over one hundred years ago. Most of
the members of the Krewe of Comus also claim
membership in the old line social clubs
including the Boston Club of New Orleans
and the Pickwick Club.
Comus was New Orleans
first parade actually planned around a Mardi
Gras theme and used flambeaux carriers to
light the parade procession.
Rex
(founded 1872) is a New Orleans Carnival Krewe
which stages the city's largest parade on
Mardi Gras Day. Rex is Latin for "King",
and Rex reigns as "The King of Carnival".
Rex
was organized by New Orleans business men
in part to put on a spectacle in honor of
the New Orleans visit of Grand Duke Alexis
of Russia during the 1872 Carnival season.
Also in the minds of the founders of Rex was
the desire to lure tourism and business to
New Orleans in the years after the American
Civil War.
The
Rex parade is put on by an organization called
The School of Design. The organization is
related to the private New Orleans men's club
The Boston Club.
One
member of the Rex Organization is each year
chosen to be the monarch of the organization;
he is often incorrectly referred to by the
(technically redundant) phrase "King
Rex". The correct title is simply "Rex".
The identity of Rex is made public on Lundi
Gras, the day before Mardi Gras. Rex is always
a prominent person in the city, one who is
usually involved in several philanthropic
and civic causes. Being chosen Rex is one
of the highest civic honors a person can receive
in New Orleans. The Mayor of New Orleans traditionally
hands over a symbolic Key to the City of New
Orleans to Rex for Mardi Gras Day.
A
consort is also chosen each year for Rex,
and she is titled the "Queen of Carnival".
The queen is almost always a debutante, attending
college. Like Rex, the queen is chosen in
the spring of the previous year, and must
keep her identity secret until Lundi Gras.
While
historically restricted to people of European
ancestry for most of its history, Rex had
no trouble complying with the 1991 anti-segregation
ordinances which ended the parades of the
Mystick Krewe of Comus (see). The first Rex
(businessman Louis Solomon) was Jewish, although
for a number of years in the early 20th century
Rex prohibited entrance into the organization
of any new Jewish members.
Rex
has held more parades in New Orleans than
any other organization. It's official song
is "If Ever I Cease to Love", a
quirky tune from the 1870s musical "Bluebeard".
This was adopted because the Grand Duke Alexis
of Russia had a fondness for the actress who
sang the song in the musical, which was playing
in New Orleans at the time of the first Rex
parade in 1872. It has stuck around since
then and is played often during Carnival.
Rex
is categorized as one of the four New Orleans
"Super Krewes" for the very large
size of the parade; the others (Endymion,
Bacchus, and Orpheus) were all founded in
the 2nd half of the 20th century and parade
during nights in the days leading up to Mardi
Gras. Rex is the only 19th century krewe and
the only "super krewe" to parade
during the daytime.
The
Rex parade has long been known for very finely
and artistically built floats. Many consider
the Rex parade to be the highlight and most
beautiful sight of New Orleans carnival. If
one looks closely at some of the Rex floats,
they are built on old cotton wagons, their
wooden wheels leaving scratch marks on the
pavement.
In
addition its famous parade, the Rex Organization
also holds a private ball for its membership
and invited guests on Mardi Gras night. In
the 1950s, this ball made headlines when the
Duke and Duchess of Windsor bowed down to
Rex and the Queen of Carnival.
In
recent decades, the Rex ball is held on one
side of the Municipal Auditorium, while on
the other half of the building at the same
time, the Mistick Krewe of Comus (the oldest
krewe), holds its ball. A rich tradition is
that Comus (the monarch), extends an invitation
to Rex and his queen to join him and his consort
at the Comus ball. This is called the "Meeting
of the Courts", and when the monarchs
have all made their exits, the Captain of
Comus literally closes the curtain on the
Carnival season. This event is televised live
locally (and to selected areas outside of
the city) - and many New Orleanians stay up
to watch - despite their weariness - the very
end.
Naming Krewe kings and queens at Mardi Gras
balls has been a tradition of the krewes ever
since. Another tradition began with that royal
visit: the Romanoff house colors—purple
for justice, green for faith, and gold for
power—became the official colors of
New Orleans Mardi Gras.
New
Orleanians have since formed a lot of secret
societies that have served many charitable
and social functions. They often help unite
the city with their parade's political themes.
In 1877, after a brief interruption from the
Civil War and the unrest that followed, the
Krewe of Momus held a parade with the theme
"Hades, a Dream of Momus" to ridicule
President Grant and his Administration. During
the Persian Gulf War, the theme for many parades
and costumes was patriotism.
Mardi
Gras can even poke fun at itself. The blacks
of New Orleans mocked the snobbishness and
exclusivity of Rex with their own parade.
In 1909, William Storey wore an old tin can
for a crown instead of the more elaborate
crown Rex used. William was crowned "King
Zulu" that year, and was proceeded by
"Provident Prince" and the "Big
Shot of Africa."
The
Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club (founded
1916) is a New Orleans Carnival Krewe which
puts on the Zulu parade each Mardi Gras Day.
Zulu is New Orleans' largest predominantly
African American carnival organization.
The
Zulu parade grew out of an older small working-class
African American marching club called The
Tramps in 1916. The members decided to satirize
the conventions of white New Orleans Mardi
Gras, particularly the Rex parade. Zulu also
satirized white society's attitudes towards
and stereotypes of blacks.
While
Rex arrived at the foot of Canal Street in
a yacht, the early versions of King Zulu arrived
on Carondolet Canal in a coal barge, wearing
a tin crown made from a lard can and holding
a ham-bone, in parody of Rex's jeweled crown
and scepter. Members of the Zulus used black
and white makeup on their face in an even
more highly exaggerated style than the blackface
makeup of the minstrel show performers of
the era.
The
Zulu court wore grass skirts. Back when the
New Orleans police force was exclusively white,
a contingent of Zulus paraded wearing accurate
duplicates of New Orleans police uniforms.
Zulu
was not the first African American carnival
organization in New Orleans, however it was
the first to stage a sizable public parade.
Older "colored" organizations restricted
themselves to private balls and small marching
clubs. In its early years, the membership
of Zulu was largely working class, and often
looked down on by more well to do and educated
New Orleans blacks. In addition to the carnival
parade, Zulu also arranged for funerals with
a brass band for deceased members.
As late as the mid
20th century Zulu had no pre-publicised
set route, but would wind around predominantly
black neighborhoods with stops at various
clubs and bars, in addition to a procession
in front of city hall where the Mayor of
New Orleans and various dignitaries were
in reviewing stands waiting for Rex. By
the 1920s Zulu had become enough of a tradition
that King Zulu and the Mayor exchanged toasts
on Mardi Gras morning. After the swing by
old city hall, individual Zulu floats would
sometimes make their own way around the
city as Zulu broke apart into numerous mini-parades.
Since the 1960s Zulu has been required to
hold to a set route like all the other large
parades.
As
the race and identity of individuals could
be hidden by the blackface makeup, a small
number of whites joined Zulu even in the days
of the Jim Crow laws, making Zulu New Orleans'
first racially integrated Carnival Krewe even
before this was legal.
In
the early days the Zulu floats were decorated
wagons; later Zulu took to renting floats
already used early in the Carnival season
by other Krewes. This tradition continues.
Zulu does a rapid customization of these used
floats before the parade, so that in the Zulu
parade one might see floats depicting the
likeness of such figures as Napoleon or The
Beatles in blackface.
In 1949 Zulu had the
first celebrity carnival king when Louis
Armstrong reigned as King of the Zulus.
In the 1960s Zulu
endured presure from various civil rights
organizations to disband because of its
use of the negative stereotype of blackface.
Zulu continued nonetheless, and is today
one of the favorite parades of the Carnival
season.
Zulu
coconuts, coconuts which have been custom
painted and decorated by Zulu riders, are
perhaps the most prized of all the handouts
given to the Mardi Gras crowds by New Orleans
parades.
In 1993 the Zulus
began their annual public Lundi Gras festivities
the day before Mardi Gras, in Woldenburg
Park on the banks of the Mississippi River
beside the French Quarter. This quickly
became a popular event, and since the first
one climaxes when the kings of Rex and Zulu
ceremonially greet each other.
Donning black face
and white eyes is another irresistible pun
of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club.
Zulu's parade would meander from barroom
to the barroom in junky cars and wagons
instead of floats.
If you wanted to catch
the start of the parade, you had to find
the bar that was extending hospitality to
King Zulu. This Krewe didn't establish a
parade route until recently. Today, Zulu,
withits beautiful modern floats, is one
of the more popular parades of the season!
They are known for their unique, hand-decorated
coconut throws. Only a fortunate few are
lucky enough to get those!
Most Mardi Gras Krewes
developed from private social clubs that
have restrictive membership policies. Since
all of these parade organizations are completely
funded by its members, we call it the "Greatest
Free Show on Earth"!
However, in 1991, the New Orleans City
Council introduced a parade organization
anti-discrimination ordinance; As a result;
some of the oldest private clubs;Momus;
Comus and Proteus, no longer parade the
streets. (Comus is returning year 2000.)
The most recently developed parade organizations
are open and not secretive: Endymion, Bacchus,
Zulu, and some Metairie parades feature
superstars on their floats -- and all take
place within the few days before Mardi Gras.
Krewes: New Orleans
Royalty
Mardi Gras has
long combined wild street activities open
to everyone with events organized by private
clubs known as krewes. Today, thousands
of people belong to about 60 krewes that
plan the parades and balls of New Orleans'
Mardi Gras. The oldest krewe, the Krewe
of Comus, was founded in 1857 by men who
feared the outrageous antics of Mardi Gras
would lead to the holiday being outlawed.
They hoped that secret societies could keep
the celebrations alive.
Most
Mardi Gras Krewes developed from private social
clubs that have restrictive membership policies.
Since all of these parade organizations are
completely funded by its members, we call
it the "Greatest Free Show on Earth"!
Throws
The millions of colorful
beaded necklaces thrown from floats are
the most visible symbols and souvenirs of
Mardi Gras. In addition, millions of cups
and toy coins known as "doubloons"
are decorated with krewe logos and thrown
to parade-watchers. Some "throws"
are especially prized: only the luckiest
folks manage to take home the hand-decorated
coconuts from the Krewe of Zulu.
The
throwing of trinkets to the crowds was started
in the early 1870s by the Twelfth Night Revelers,
and is a time-honored expectation for young
and old alike.
In 1884 (over 100 years ago!), Rex started
using medallions instead of trinkets. These
medallions are represented by today's doubloons.
These doubloons are aluminum and anodized
in many different colors. They depict the
parade theme on one side and the Krewe's emblem
on the other. They have become collector's
items.
Other popular throws
include cups (otherwise known as New Orleans
equiste drinking glasses), long pearl beads,
Krewe Of Mid City's Parade Potato chips
and stuffed animals.
Be warned! If you're
at your first parade and reach down to pick
up a doubloon with your hand, your fingers
may never be the same! Many stomp on doubloons
in their rush to claim them.
People do outrageous
things to catch the most throws. Some dress
as priests, hoping the many Catholics on
the floats will shower them with goodies.
Others dress their children in eye-catching
costumes and seat them, holding baskets
to catch the loot, on ladders that tower
over the crowds. Others give up on the costume
ploy altogether, finding that taking clothes
off can be the quickest attention-getter.
