|
| |
 |
 |
|
| |
| What is Mardi Gras? |
Long before Mardi Gras arrived in Louisiana,
it was celebrated in many European Christian countries. The word carnival
originates from the Latin words caro (carnis) meaning flesh and vale,
meaning farewell. Literally, people would give leave of flesh. Most likely
this dates back to the pre-Christian Roman Bacchanalian feasts. The celebration
spread. It became associated with Ash Wednesday, the start of the 40-day
Lenten period. In France, it was popular to fatten up a calf for a feast
the day before Ash Wednesday called the Beouf Gras (fatted cow), hence
the name, Mardi (Tuesday) Gras (Fat).
Three hundred years ago on Fat Tuesday (Carnival day 1699) Mardi Gras
was "introduced" to Louisiana. Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville
and their men set up camp on the west bank of the Mississippi about 60
miles from where New Orleans would be founded. In celebration of Carnival,
the site was name Point du Mardi Gras and the channel was called Bayou
Mardi Gras (and who says these guys lacked imagination?!). They remain
the oldest designated sites of NON Indian origins in the Mississippi Valley.
The name carnival is derived from the Latin Caro, Carnis,
flesh, and vale, farewell (according to Ducange, from the Latin denomination
of the feasts of the Middle Ages, carnis levamen, solace of the flesh),
because at that time people took leave of flesh. The carnival of the modern
world is nothing more or less than the Saturnalia of the Christian Romans
who could not forget their pagan festivals. From Rome, the celebration
spread to other European countries and finally to America. Carnival is
still observed in many American cities but certainly not with the glamour
and grandeur that is attendant to the New Orleans carnival which had its
birth in 1827, when a group of students, recently returned from school
in Paris, donned strange costumes and danced their way through the streets.
The students got the idea for their Mardi Gras revelry from the celebrations
they had experienced in Paris.
New Orleanians caught the enthusiasm of the youths and
from 1827 to 1833. Mardi Gras each year saw more and more revelries, culminating
in an annual Mardi Gras ball. In 1833 Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville,
a rich plantation owner, solicited large amount to help finance an organized
Mardi Gras celebration. It was not until 1837 however, that the first
Mardi Gras parade was staged. The first description of a Mardi Gras parade
is of a single float in 1839 which was a crude thing, but a great success.
It is reported that the float moved through the streets while the crowd
roared hilariously. Since then Mardi Gras in New Orleans has been a definite
success. It continued to grow, with additional organizations participating
each year until the Carnival as we know it today was the result.
New Orleans was founded by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur
de Bienville (we have streets in New Orleans bearing the names Iberville
and Bienville) in 1718. Mind you that this was 7 years after the first
Mardi Gras society was founded in Mobile, Alabama! Under the first French
rule, Carnival balls were held at Governor Grand Marquis de Vaudreuil's
(now really, just how many titles does one person need?) lavish home.
The Spanish came and were not thrilled with the raucous masking, parading
and ball stuff so, thanks to Governor Don Antonio de Ulloa, the celebration
was banned. It didn't meet with much success as the proclamation was largely
ignored. In the early 1800's the Bals Masque were so popular that a law
was passed to limit the carnival season from January 1st to Mardi Gras
day to keep everyone from celebrating it all year long!
The 12th night after Christmas, January 6th, is the official
start of the Carnival season. It was the 12th night after the baby Jesus
was born that the Wise men visited bearing gifts. In the 1790's Twelfth
Night parties were very popular on Louisiana plantations. In 1792, the
first public ballroom (La Salle Conde) opened in New Orleans. The following
year, those pesky people in Mobile, The Spanish Mystics had their first
parade on 12th night.
Mardi Gras balls were Pre-Lenten cotillions. Plantation
owners would come to their town homes in New Orleans in November. Sugar
cane is cut and processed in October, if you have ever been around the
smell it is (ugh) very much like molasses (big surprise). It is very heavy
and just permeates the whole countryside. I think they came into town
just to avoid the smell! Mind you, the plantations were miles a part from
each other, as well as New Orleans and opportunities to make love matches
for daughters were slim. If your daughter did not make a connection (or
you failed to arrange a match, often a business merger) during the season,
it would have to wait until the following year.
In 1804, the first Mardi Gras crisis under American
rule was over whether to play French music or English music. Thankfully
that was resolved and the following year was the first Quadroon ball,
but 1806 made public masking and most balls illegal AGAIN! There was a
reprieve for balls in 1823 and by 1837 we have the first documented street
procession. In 1827 it is said that the production at the Theatre d'Orleans
was so popular that it continued until St. Joseph's day! (March 19) This
continued until 1857 when Mardi Gras, as we know it, was born. Thanks
to some drunken guys from Mobile, the first Krewe was born. The Mystik
Krewe of Comus, 6 gentlemen costumed and masked, took to the streets in
two mule drawn floats. Their theme was "Signs of the Times".
The hallmark of the Comus Krewe was (and still is) their biting political
satire. Sadly, the Civil War cancelled 4 years of celebration.
The Twelfth Night Revelers introduced the grand march
at their masked ball in 1871, but more importantly the selection of the
first Queen by drawing a golden bean from a King Cake. Incredibly, in
the benchmark year, the introduction of throws came about by a man dressed
as Santa Claus on one of the floats! In the old days, throws were glass
beads, which have become highly prized collectors items.
Rex showed his regal head for the first time in 1872,
with the first daytime parade to salute the visiting Russian Grand Duke
Alexis. There will be more on him, as he was quite the rogue! Rex and
the King of Carnival are one and the same and he reigns over all of Mardi
Gras. The Rex Krewe gave us the official flag, colors (purple, green and
gold) and anthem for Carnival.
Top » |
Carnival New Orleans - Krewes |
Instead of being a celebration of several
days duration, the New Orleans Carnival is a long series of balls over
a period of many weeks climaxing with the celebration on Mardi Gras day
when Rex, King of the Carnival, receives the keys to the city and rules
for the day. Although Rex is the king of kings of the Carnival, the oldest
organization is the Mistick Krewe of Comus which was organized in 1857.
Rex did not appear until 1872.
In 1937, There were between 25 and 30 krewes including several organizations
for women. In 1996, there will be no fewer than 50-60 krewes and accompanying
parades and other festivities.
Membership in the krewes is through invitation only.
Members of the krewes who participate in the annual ball are known as
"the cast" and their identity is never officiially revealed.
Numerically krewes run from a membership of less than 100 to over 300;
some krewes such as Endymion, boast over 1,500 members.
Dues vary depending entirely on the magnitude of the
organization and its importance in the make-up of carnival. In addition
to the dues, members are taxed for krewe favors, after-ball dinners and
other incidentals.
While each organization has the regular group of officers
such as president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, etc., the captain
is the real executive and is in absolute control of the presentation of
the tableau on the night of the ball.
The ball consists of a tableau depicting some event in
history or mythology, song, or story. The ballroom, usually the Municipal
Auditorium (or Superdome for some of the larger krewes), becomes a brilliant
stage set with the members of the organization as the actors. Each individual
krewe has its own distinctive manner of presentation.
Over each ball reigns a king and queen and their courts.
As like every other member of the krewe, the king and his dukes are under
the mask and their identity never officially revealed. Rex, the King of
the Carnival, is an exception to this rule.
The queen and her maids are selected by the captain and
the executive committee of each organization. They are notified of their
selection far in advance of the ball but their identity is kept from the
public and the members of the krewe until the night of the ball. For the
better part debutantes make up the courts of the krewe but there are exceptions
to this rule.
Attendance at the ball is by invitation only. Unless
the visitor to New Orleans has some connection or contact with a member
of a krewe and is in a position to receive an invitation they are unable
to be present. As a result, the general run of visitors to the New Orleans
Mardi Gras are only privileged to witness the street pageants and do not
participate in the Carnival festivities except on Mardi Gras day during
the hours of promiscuous masking which is from sunrise to sunset.
Top
» |
| Carnival Ball Protocol |
There are three distinct classes of
invitations to the carnival balls. The first two are for men and women
guests. Each card issued is a personal invitation to a lady or gentleman
bearing their names and is not transferable. These invitations permit
the invited guests to witness the staging of the tableau. Both lady and
gentleman must be in evening clothes to gain admittance to the ball. Tuxedoes
are permissible for gentlemen but no lady is allowed to enter tha ball
if she is wearing a hat. Gentlemen receiving the regular invitations are
known as "black coats" and are not allowed to participate in
any of the dances until the krewe has left the floor which is usually
after the 15th or 16th dance and near the midnight hour. Hermes, in this
respect, has only eight maskers' dances which gives the gentleman guest
or "black coat" an opportunity to dance at an earlier hour.
Ladies receiving the regular invitations are accorded the same privileges
as the gentlemen which is essentially that of an "audience".
The third type of invitation is extended to ladies who are requested to
participate in the maskers' dances. These invitations are known as "call-outs"
and the holders of "call-outs" are in effect the honored guests
of the ball. Ladies with "call-outs" are accorded seats of honor
on the floor of the ballroom. No men other than members of the floor and
reception committees who must be in full costume de riguer and who are
identified by red and white carnations, are allowed on the ballroom floor
during the maskers' dances.
Ladies with "call-outs" remain seated until
a masker "calls" for them to dance. The method of "call-outs"
may be confusing to the uninitiated but is quite simple when explained
or seen in operation. Following the tableau members of the floor committee
seek a masker desiring to "call-out" a lady and ask the lady's
name. The masker is identified by a number on his program. The committeeman
shouts the name of the Lady in the "call-out" section. When
she is located, he offers her his arm and leads her to the dance floor
where she is presented to the masker who does not identify himself. She
is presented with the krewe favor by the masker and following the dance
returns to her seat to await another "call-out" while the masker
requests a committeeman to obtain another "call-out" for the
next dance. This procedure is followed intil the last of the maskers'
dances when the entire krewe leaves the floor and turns the dancing over
to any guest present at the ball.
The same rules predominate in the women's organization
with the exeption that the women are masked and the gentlemen are "called-out".
In keeping with the policy of all krewes, the queen of
a women's organization is not officially announced while, on the other
hand, the identity of the king is formally made public when he is selected.
Following the balls, many of the krewes have all-night
supper dances at downtown hotels or restaraunts. Practically all of the
balls are staged at Municipal Auditorium. In other years they were staged
at the St. Charles Hotel, La Salle d'Orleans, the old French Operal House,
the Athenaeum, the Orpheum and Tulane Theaters. The street pageants are
housed and built in huge buildings called "dens".
Membership in a krewe is not limited to one organization.
An individual may join as many as he is invited to become a member of.
To give you an idea of the growth of Mardi Gras, the
men's krewes during the 1937 Carnival season in the order of their appearance
were Harlequins, Olympian, Twelfth Night Revelers, Caliphs of Cairo, Bards
of Bohemia, Nereus, Eros, Osiris, Athenians, Mithras, Prophets of Persia,
Oberon, Atlanteans, Mystery, Momus, Hermes, Apollow, Melson, Mystic Club,
Proteus, Rex and Comus.
Besides this group there were the krewes of Pan, Hypathians,
Aparomest, Iridis, Noblad and Les Marionettes for women. Addes also are
a number of smaller groups. In 1996, at least half of the krewes on this
list no longer exist, but have been replaced with many more new organizations.
As the adults have their parades and pageants, so do
the children of New Orleans sponsor and present their own Carnival parades
and pageants. All schools in the city have their own individual Carnival
programs and events. They all lead to the ultimate--participation in the
big Carnival spectacles which are to come in maturity.
Top
» |
| Mardi Gras Day |
On Mardi Gras day the climax of the Carnival
season is reached. All cares are forgotten. The streets are crowded with
maskers who rolic and frolic with free abandon. Comes the night, the last
of the street pageants, the balls and at the stroke of midnight the courts
of Rex and Comus meet, exchange greetings and another Mardi Gras is ended.
The ending of one Mardi Gras celebration is the beginning
of preparation for another. Hardly have the streets been cleared of the
confetti and the flags and the bunting; scarcely has the echo of the fun-maddened
crowds died out when plans and preparations are begun for the Carnival
which is to follow. Year in and year out Mardi Gras comes and Mardi Gras
goes. It is part of New Orleans, nay, it is the soul of New Orleans.
Top » |
|
|
|
