[Warders Guild - Mardi Gras] The Tale Behind Mardi Gras

[haycraftd]

Gather round, brothers and sisters, Mother. * Grins.*  

 

I know many of y'all are wondering what us Warders are up to.  What exactly IS Mardi Gras.  It'll be a pleasure to tell you the tale behind it.

 

Almost everything about Mardi Gras originates from French Catholicism and our Civil War, 1861-1865.  And quite a lot of it is tragic.

 

New Orleans was founded by the French Catholics and Louisiana is filled with French Catholics in many ways.  They came from everywhere France, whether it was from France itself, Quebec after the British took over Canada in 1763, Haiti during and after their rebellion ending in 1804, other territories that had been French at some time, even Vietnam.  During and after the Vietnam war, the Catholic church resettled many fleeing Vietnamese Catholic refugees into New Orleans.  They’re a vibrant community now.

 

 

 

That’s where the name “Mardi Gras” comes from, but that’s also where the ideas for festive king cakes comes from.  In Christianity, the first season is Advent, the season just before Christ’s birth, then there’s Christmastide, which celebrates Christ’s birth, lasting from Christ’s actual birth Christmas day to when the Three Kings discover him, “revealing” Him (Epiphany), then the season Epiphanytide begins, which is the period between the three kings discovering Him until Jesus goes into the desert to fast, pray, and meet the devil.  

 

So, the baby hidden in a king cake is Christianity’s King, Jesus, and honours Him. I’m almost certain that the ideas for beads originally came from rosary beads, although by the time Mardi Gras even came close to what it is now, I’m sure it was forgotten.

 

Now, in the few decades immediately before the Civil War, the Middle Ages and its customs were romanticised extraordinarily everywhere, especially down in the South.  People romanticised everything about the Middle Ages and everything old.  Fairies became nice, Vikings became cool, King Arthur was sainted.  One of the major bestsellers of all time was Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and more and more was done and promoted.  Gallant knights decided to come back and ladies with handkerchiefs decided to rise.  Tasselled castles were built and are peppered throughout New Orleans, some people tried to joust again, everything.

 

 

Mark Twain claimed the Civil War was because of Sir Walter Scott, especially his novel Waverly, and I’ve never been able to be comfortable with Scott.  He was an excellent author, but the “Lost Cause” myth of a lost honourable Southern culture (Gone with the Wind, for non-American readers) seems like another version of Waverly’s story of a lost honourable Scottish one.

 

 

But old customs, old legends, everything came alive again in the decades before the Civil War. Then came the Civil War.  

 

 

And I’m sure glad that the Union won, but I’m also glad we’ve forgotten how it was done.  So incredibly much was burned down and lost.  People say it was a dress rehearsal of WW1 because it was.  One of the very few Southern cities left standing intact after the war was dear New Orleans. Defeated soldiers wanted to stand up somehow.  And from these ashes was birthed Mardi Gras.   

 

 

 

Soon after the war, defeated Confederate soldiers in New Orleans decided they’d become knights and began forming “krewes” naming themselves after old medieval legends and ancient gods.  One of the first krewes that formed in 1872, “Rex,” chose the colours that became Mardi Gras: purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Krewes began making parades based off of old medieval customs for parades and celebrations.  Decorated floats are based off of old medieval parades that used to re-enact gospel scenes and preach Christian faith.  Each parade you’ll see “knights” riding by dressed in costumes to resemble the old tales’ romanticised knights.  The floats themselves are filled with royalty, with just about everyone a knight or lady.  Just about every custom you see in Mardi Gras, every traditional mask, everything, has a romanticised medieval or ancient origin. 

 

 

From that tragic beginning, though, Mardi Gras was electrified and got BIG.   And man is it fun today.

 

EVERYONE started forming krewes and they’ve just gotten more unusual.  You’ve got the original knights like Rex that started everything, but Rex is considered fairly tame today.  In 1901 through 1909 some African Americans formed a krewe that now starts the parades Mardi Gras day, the Krewe of Zulu.  They like throwing the occasional coconut.  

 

 

And krewes are still forming.  In 2000, some women formed the Krewe of Muses.  They like to throw shoes.  It is considered very good luck to catch one. I’ve never been able.

 

 

 

Neither my father nor my mother ever joined a krewe, but one of my mother’s best friends is a member of the Krewe of Muses and many if not most of my father’s friends seem to have joined the Krewe d’Etat.  The krewe formed in 1996 and everyone is still a knight, but they also ditched all other noble titles and named a dictator. Their decorated floats are known for satirizing everything about life.

 

 

 

I was a member of a new krewe, the Krewe of Chewbacchus, for one year.  It cost $42 to join. Nerds should know the significance of that number.  I might join again when I’m home.  

 

 

 

When I was a kid in elementary school, coming up to Mardi Gras all we had during snacktime was king cakes.  The kid who got the baby was in charge of getting the next cake.  Some families just went to the nearby bakeries, but some liked baking aussi.  All of us kids used to boast about how our family was making the best.

 

The city becomes crowded looong before Mardi Gras day.  If you want to get near a parade, you‘ll have to search for a parking spot forever.  I was once driving home—I think I was coming home from subbing, or at least the school where I was subbing—but got stuck on St Charles Avenue, the street where most of the uptown parades march on.  There wasn’t a parade that day, but there was going to be one that night, and I was low on gas.  I was stuck so thoroughly that I had to turn off air conditioning before finally being able to slip out and get some gas.  Bikes always work during Mardi Gras, but cars are more awkward.

 

 

The parades themselves are a scene, with the crowd waving a shouting and the costumed krewes making sure they throw beads right.  I remember when I was 13, I was in a parade Mardi Gras day.  It was the last parade, that’s mainly just schools riding floats, and we were the Flinstones.  For us boys—we were as focused on good throws as much as we were in baseball, and if we spotted someone familiar in the crowd, we tried to throw to them. 

 

 

Whether you’re one in the crowd or one in the parade, it can be weird looking out, seeing and feeling all the energy from everyone. Whenever it was just friends and me going to the parades, we’d find a good place in the crowd to wave, shout, and go a bit crazy, but when it was family, it was more subdued and organised.  For several years, when he was still in high school, one of my younger brothers had a friend living on St Charles.  Their family would often throw parties during parades, we’d go there, and they’d have platforms in their yard for us partygoers when we wanted to go join in the fun.  I remember standing there one night when the Muses were marching by and a high heel was sailing my way.  I was excited—this was IT!—and then it got caught by a tree branch.  I was disappointed, of course, but a moment later I was back into it.

 

It can be overwhelming when you first experience it and I know a lot of people would think it a nightmare from how I’m describing it.  And not everyone is suited for every parade.  The energy in Muses or d’Etat is monumentally larger than the energy in Rex.   But the parades are like drinks that no one likes when they first taste them, but almost everyone likes their second try. I say this from real observations—so many people came to help New Orleans after Katrina and then decided they wanted to come back or stay that I’ve seen person after person go “Ugh” at their first parade and then completely lose it the next as they become one with the energy of the crowd and the excitement.  

 

 

Over here in Edinburgh, I’ve mostly given up trying to bring Mardi Gras.  There’s no chance I could bring the excitement of a parade, so I’ve tried a few times to get king cakes.  In 2015 I spent a few days wandering Edinburgh’s bakeries to try and recruit one of the bakers to bake a king cake.  None wanted or managed it.  The next year, I brought back a king cake mix from home to try again to recruit a baker.  On the way out to find one, I ran into a new female friend and in our resulting conversation, she became extremely interested in the king cake and volunteered to bake it.  Since she was single at the time, just about everyone took that as a sign and I asked her to a lunch soon after.  Nothing came, alas.  

 

 

I might be able to do something this year, though!  Two Fridays ago, I had gone downstairs in our building to check the mail and began chatting with the receptionist there, saying I was beginning to think about Mardi Gras and whether I would do anything. I’d expected it would be (and still suspect it will mostly be) me dressing weirdly, grinning broadly, and smoking a lonely cigar to finish the night.  But the receptionist had never heard of Mardi Gras and wanted to know everything about it.

 

I began explaining everything and when I mentioned king cakes, she became VERY interested in them.  She looked them up, thought they looked delicious, and decided she would bake one for me.  I’ve also got a friend who’s never touched a cigar and never saw one until he saw me with one, but is quite happy to hang out with “mafia bosses” when he has the chance.  He’s writing a chapter in his PhD, so he might not be able, but if he finishes, it will be the first time we’ve seen each other in a good long while.

 

 

 

So, Mardi Gras is an experience.  It came out of the ashes of the Civil War.  Defeated soldiers who had already romanticised the Middle Ages decided they’d become knights and began recreating their version of medieval customs.  It started with them calling themselves knights and forming krewes, then expanded when they formed parades, and it just grew and evolved from there. 

 

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”  And there’s a “time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

 

So laugh and dance with New Orleans.  Laissez le bon temps rouler!    

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by haycraftd

[JamesBrown]

Fantastic post! I had no idea about most of that.

 

Now I want to be in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

[haycraftd]

Thanks! 

 

Mardi Gras is Tuesday morning.  In the past week or so, a few parades have been quickened because of rain, so the energy that day will be MASSIVE.

Edited March 3, 2019 by haycraftd

[Elgee]

I did not know all of that about Mardi Gras! Especially interesting to me is the Krewe of Zulu. The Zulu's are a tribe in the north eastern part of South Africa. Quite strange to see them presented in an American City.

[haycraftd]

Zulu the tribe might be unfamiliar, but Zulu as the name of an African tribe isn't.  It's one of the more well-known tribal names out there.

 

Who knows--the krewe began to form during the Boer War and New Orleans is a major port, so maybe some fleeing the war came to New Orleans, but I also wouldn't be surprised if those who formed it just wanted to come up with an exotic African name and chose Zulu. 

[Dar'Jen Ab Owain]

That was a fantastic post. So much I did not know.

[haycraftd]

Thanks!  It's a pleasure.

[Elgee]

22 hours ago, haycraftd said:

Zulu the tribe might be unfamiliar, but Zulu as the name of an African tribe isn't.  It's one of the more well-known tribal names out there.

 

Who knows--the krewe began to form during the Boer War and New Orleans is a major port, so maybe some fleeing the war came to New Orleans, but I also wouldn't be surprised if those who formed it just wanted to come up with an exotic African name and chose Zulu. 

 

It would be fascinating to find out. I know there were quite a lot of Zulus fighting alongside the Boers during that war. Many of them were also sent to concentration camps.

[Ryrin]

I had no idea!  My older sister has been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

 

I'm assuming the defeated Confederate soldiers needed something to renew their confidence after losing the war.

 

[haycraftd]

@Elgee Yes, it would.

 

@RyrinThe saying is "amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics." 

 

The Confederate States had many tactical geniuses that outfoxed most Union generals until Grant began leading, but the Union had constant supplies and reinforcements.  So the Union won by draining the South so long that it couldn't take it anymore.  It was an extremely brutal war.  Probably the main reason New Orleans survived was that it was captured so early.  

 

Confederate soldiers were left with a proud legacy but a destroyed South.  So what to do?  They decided to start inventing a holiday.  

[haycraftd]

Happy Mardi Gras, y'all! 

The friend turned out to be too engrossed in writing and the receptionist didn't try her hands at the king cake.  I don't mind--Edinburgh is Edinburgh and I'm used to it all as an expat--but I'm fairly sure New Orleans is in a state of crazy right now.

 

So it'll just be me dressing weirdly, grinning widely, and a cigar tonight.  That'll do, but thanks for letting me share.

[Elgee]

46 minutes ago, haycraftd said:

So it'll just be me dressing weirdly, grinning widely, and a cigar tonight.  That'll do, but thanks for letting me share.

 

Aawwwwww! *snuggles*

[JamesBrown]

I'm glad you shared, haycraftd. This has been great.

[haycraftd]

It's been a real pleasure!  Thanks, y'all.

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by haycraftd

[Ryrin]

Great job, Hacraftd!!! Thank you!!!

[haycraftd]

Schools in New Orleans have been closed throughout Mardi Gras week and will open again tomorrow.  So plenty of students (and a few teachers, too) are groaning loudly right now.  

 

And you're welcome--it was fun!