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| 2022 Mardi Gras: Krewe of King Arthur Locked & Loaded & Ready to Roll! |
If all goes according to plan, when this post publishes in the wee hours of Saturday, February 11, 2023, I’ll be in New Orleans winding down from participating in two Mardi Gras parades yesterday (Friday) and preparing for a third, tomorrow (Sunday). And getting psyched about watching several more, as they thunder down Canal Street all day Saturday.
I write stories set, mostly, in either the Virginia Beach/Tidewater area or New Orleans. So, this is a research trip! (I’m still trying to convince my tax accountant that these junkets should be a business deduction, though. What a stick-in-the-mud, right?)
Using Tidewater seems self-explanatory. That’s where I
live. “But why New Orleans?” you ask. “Why not?” I respond. What an interesting
place—the Crescent City, the City That Care Forgot, the Big Easy. “NOLA,” has a
lot of nicknames. My personal favorite (and one I think I invented) is “The Chameleon
City.” New Orleans presents a different identity and soul to each person it
touches. It’s like a “shape-shifter,” only not as foreboding, and with much
better food.
And what a more hands-on way for a writer to learn about New
Orleans than participate in its world-renowned Mardi Gras festivities?
“But I thought Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday,” was just one
day,” you assert. And you’d be technically correct. Carnival season starts each year on January 6th,
the “Twelfth Night” after Christmas. But
Fat Tuesday—the last day of the Carnival season—varies from year to year, because
it depends on the start of Lent—Ash Wednesday—which is calculated based on when
Easter occurs.
Regardless of the exact date of Fat Tuesday, New
Orleans and the surrounding area have been celebrating Mardi Gras since January
6th. By the time Fat Tuesday
rolls around, there’s already been a “whole lot of partying going on.”
Mardi Gras is rich with history and tradition. For
example, purple, green, and gold are the colors most associated with Mardi Gras
in New Orleans. As the story goes, Rex, the King of Carnival, selected the colors
and assigned a meaning to them in 1892.
Purple stands for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. If you
want to learn more about Mardi Gras, its history, traditions, and, most
importantly, the parade schedules, check out this website: Mardi Gras New Orleans.
Few would argue that parades are the beating heart of
Mardi Gras. And people in New Orleans know how to parade! Parades usually center
around a “Krewe,” such as the Krewe of ALLA (www.kreweofalla.net) or the Krewe of King Arthur (www.kreweofkingarthur.com).
Some people belong to more that one Krewe. There are walking parades (like the
Krewe of Cork, www.kreweofcork.com), “float” parades (the vast majority), and even parades where
the members ride on streetcars (like the Phunny Phorty Phellows, www.phunnyphortyphellows). All told, there are over ninety different
parades in the New Orleans area from January 6th until Fat Tuesday.
The majority of the parades occur during the last two
weeks before Fat Tuesday. Parades are massive affairs, from Krewes with a few
hundred members to “Super Krewes,” usually any Krewe with over one-thousand
members. This year, for example, Krewe of ALLA has eighteen floats carrying 500 riders. Krewe of King Arthur has seventy-one floats with 2,400 riders. (For more on Krewe size, and for comprehensive
information about Mardi Gras in general, check out Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide.)
And that doesn’t count for the number of high school
and college bands and marching units or the many “adult” walking/dancing groups,
like the Muff-a-lottas (www.muffalottas.com), the 610 Stompers (www.610stompers.com), or the Pussyfooters (where you have
to be at least thirty years of age to join, www.pussyfooters.com ), interspersed between the floats.
Don’t worry that you
can’t be here. You can still experience the thrill of Mardi Gras parades from
the comfort of your La-Z-Boy. Beginning Friday,
Feb. 10 through Fat Tuesday, on Feb. 21, The Times-Picayune newspaper and its
online affiliate, NOLA.com, will livestream every parade that rolls by its
St. Charles Avenue newsroom (about thirty-two parades) via nola.com, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. There are even Mardi Gras trackers
(using GPS) you can download. Check out Mardi Gras Parade Tracker and Download
WDSU Parade Tracker for iPhone, Android.
Wish me luck! Two down, one to go. And “Send me a
comment, Mister!” Let me know what kind of Mardi Gras experiences you’ve had.
3 comments:
Great article! Hope you are enjoying The Big Easy. I love how Bourbon Street comes alive with music, art, parades, and costumes. And the best Louisana food ever.
I was thinking from your article that the live street cameras would make a great mystery in seeing someone on one of the streams that was involved in a crime.
Thanks, Teresa. After the past few days, it's hard to think of this town as The Big Easy... It's been a lot of work. I've learned a lot that will held me add background to my stories. And I agree about the having so many cameras around. Even the dumbest criminal has to know that someone's watching. But it seems that people keep committing crimes and give us grist for our writing.
I really enjoyed the flavor! Thanks so much for sharing this with us! So far my only experience with New Orleans comes through jazz (which our family loves, starting with Dad) and the writing of Anne Rice (another favorite of mine). I appreciate learning more!
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