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 Caribbeanfestival 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
ristocracy, 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. 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 Orpheusparade, 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.
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.