Mardi Gras In
New Orleans
The source of Mardi Gras can be found in medieval Europe, spreading through Rome and Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries to the French House of the Bourbons. From France, the traditional festivity of "Boeuf Gras," or fatted calf, was taken with the French to their colonies.
On March 2, 1699, French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville arrived at a piece of land 60 miles south of New Orleans, and he gave it the name "Pointe du Mardi Gras" when his men became aware it was the eve of the festive holiday. In 1702, Bienville established "Fort Louis de la Louisiane," which is known today as Mobile. In 1703, the small settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated America's earliest Mardi Gras.
In 1704, Mobile founded a secret society called Masque de la Mobile, not unlike those that formed our contemporary Mardi Gras krewes. It existed until 1709. In 1710, the "Boeuf Gras Society" was formed and had parades from 1711 through 1861. The procession occurred with a large bull's head pushed alone on wheels by 16 fellows. Later, Rex paraded with a real bull, draped in white and indicating the approaching Lenten meat fast. This happened on Fat Tuesday.
In 1718, New Orleans was founded by Bienville. By the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New Orleans. In the early 1740s, Louisiana's governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, founded refined society balls, which became the model for contemporary New Orleans Mardi Gras balls.
The first reference to Mardi Gras "Carnival" is found in a 1781 report to the Spanish colonial governing body. In 1781, the Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association was the first of many clubs and carnival organizations formed in New Orleans.
By the late 1830s, to celebrate Mardi Gras, New Orleans held street processions, which included maskers with carriages and horseback riders. Bright gaslight torches, or "flambeaux," cleared the darkness for krewe members. In 1856, the Mistick Krewe of Comus was formed by six young Mobile natives. The krewe brought enchantment and mystery to New Orleans with their masked balls and impressive floats, which were recognized as tableaux cars.
Krewe members stayed anonymous.
In 1870, the Twelfth Night Revelers was formed (Mardi Gras' second Krewe). With their procession, came the first recorded report of Mardi Gras "throws."
Newspapers started announcing Mardi Gras events beforehand and even printed "Carnival Edition" lithographs of the parades' wonderful float designs, after they rolled.
Early on, these reproductions were small, and details were fuzzy. However, beginning in 1886 with Proteus' parade theme "Visions of Other Worlds," these chromolithographs were produced completely with saturated color, accurately displaying the float and costume designs of Carlotta Bonnecase, Charles Briton and B.A. Wikstrom.
The designers' artistry was made lifelike by gifted Parisian paper-mache' artist Georges Soulie'. For 40 years, he had the task of creating all of Carnival's floats and processional outfits.
In 1872, a group of businessmen devised a King of Carnival, Rex, to reign over the first daytime parade. To honor the visiting Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff, the businessmen acquainted Romanoff's family with colors of purple, green and gold as Carnival's official colors. Purple represents justice; gold stands for power; and green stands for faith. During this Mardi Gras season, Carnival's unlikely anthem, "If Ever I Cease to Love," was established, partially due to the Duke's love for the tune.
In 1873, floats started being produced solely in New Orleans instead of France, climaxing with Comus' parade with the theme "The Missing Links to Darwin's Origin of Species." Comus krewe members wore unusual paper-mache' animal costumes to make fun of both Darwin's theory and local officials, including Governor Henry Warmoth. In 1875, Governor Warmoth signed the "Mardi Gras Act," designating Fat Tuesday as a legal holiday in Louisiana, which it remains so today.
Today, there are many Mardi Gras parades
in the New Orleans area and in other towns in LA, MS, and AL.
Also, there is a New Orleans Connection to the JFK Assassination, concerning Clay Shaw, who was investigated by Jim Garrison.
