New Orleans
New Orleans Mardi Gras is particularly well-known, often called "the greatest free show on earth". The celebrations draw hundreds of thousands of tourists to the city in addition to the celebrating locals for the parties and parades. Most tourists can be found within the French Quarter, especially Bourbon Street.
Mardi Gras came to New Orleans with the earliest French settlers. New Orleans developed new traditions, including Carnival organizations called Krewes such as the Krewe du Vieux, the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, and the famous Rex parade, in addition to Mardi Gras Indians and king cake parties.
There are as many as 60 Krewes that have parades in the greater New Orleans area. Officially, the Mardi Gras season begins on the 12th day after Christmas. Most parades, balls and other festivities occur on weeknights and weekends in the 2-week period before Mardi Gras Day. Though each parade is different, there are certain common ingredients: 1) There is a king of each Krewe, picked from among the Krewe membership; 2) gaily colored floats, ridden by masked and costumed Krewe members, who throw various items, including beads (necklaces), metal coins called doubloons bearing the official emblem and often, that year's parade's grand marshals name, and assorted other fun items; marching bands from local high schools and universities, and often other invited guest bands.
The oldest parading krewes include those of Rex, "King of the Carnival," who has reigned since 1872, and Zulu, founded in 1909, both of whom parade for a half-million or more spectators along a six mile-long route on Shrove Tuesday morning each year. Oldest of the night parades is the Krewe of Proteus, founded in 1882, and which rolls to the light of old-fashioned flambeaux on Lundi Gras (Fat Monday), which is the Monday night before Mardi Gras. New Orleans' parades include anywhere from 14 to 30 or more floats. "Truck parades" of huge, decorated trucks often have more than 100 entries. Other parades are held by "walking clubs," consisting of maskers promenading to the blare of the city's famous jazz bands.
Particularly since the inception of the larger parade organizations (sometimes called "super krewes") such as Bacchus, Endymion and Orpheus, it has become fashionable to invite Hollywood and other celebrities to act as Grand Marshals for parades.
As many as 100,000 Mardi Gras revelers are estimated to throng Bourbon Street in New Orleans' historic French Quarter each Fat Tuesday to view often outrageous costume contests and celebrate until the stroke of midnight, which signals the end of Carnival and the beginning of the penitential season of Lent.
In addition to parades and other public observances, New Orleans is the scene of exclusive and elaborate masked, tableau balls held by most of the parading krewes and other organizations which limit their activities only to balls. Usually invitation-only affairs, many of the balls feature the presentation of the city's debutantes.
New Roads
New Roads, Louisiana hosts the state's oldest Mardi Gras celebration outside New Orleans. This historic and charming Creole town of 5,500, located 35 minutes northwest of Baton Rouge on False River, attracts as many as 75,000 people each Shrove Tuesday for a family-friendly celebration. The Community Center Carnival Club parade, founded in 1922 and Louisiana's oldest outside New Orleans, rolls at 11 a.m. The New Roads Lions Carnival parade, founded in 1941 and which is staged as a charitable fundraiser, rolls at 1:30 p.m.
Each parade consists of 25–30 floats built fresh each year, eight to 10 marching bands and drill units, and tons of trinket "throws" including beads, cups, and small toys. Unlike the exclusiveness of formal krewes, New Roads' parade participation is open to the public, with schools, churches, clubs, businesses, and families building and riding the floats. The Mardi Gras in New Roads, Louisiana website [2] contains history and images of this unique Mardi Gras event.
Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana is home to a large Mardi Gras celebration which includes eight parades of floats and bands during the Carnival season. An annual event since 1934, it is generally a family-oriented event lacking the perceived decadence of its New Orleans cousin. Lafayette Mardi Gras royalty, chosen from civic leaders and debutantes, includes King Gabriel and Queen Evangeline of the Southwest Louisiana Carnival Association and King Toussaint L'Overture and Queen Simone Simonet of the Lafayette Mardi Gras Festival. Hollywood celebrities have served as Grand Marshals. Lafayette is geographically the heart of Cajun Country, and as such draws Cajuns and Creoles from the surrounding area to participate in Mardi Gras festivities. Attendance at the three parades held on Shrove Tuesday itself is estimated around 255,000 by law enforcement officials. Visitors enjoy the Cajun hospitality and cuisine in addition to the parades. Lafayette's population is approximately 90% Catholic which contributes to the popularity of Mardi Gras.
Elsewhere in Louisiana
Mardi Gras is a legal holiday in Louisiana. Other places in the New Orleans metropolitan area also have celebrations; notably the suburbs of Metairie, La Place and Chalmette have large parades. Without the restrictions on commercial sponsorship of parades seen in Orleans Parish, there is much advertising and trademark placements on the parades in Metairie. Metairie parades also tend to be more family-oriented, and even include a children's parade.
Houma, Louisiana hosts a significant Mardi Gras celebration of nine parades, three of which roll on Shrove Tuesday, and the others on the two weekends preceding the big day. Oldest of the parading organizations or krewes is the Krewe of Houmas, which has rolled since 1948 and attracts about 70,000 spectators on Mardi Gras afternoon. The nearby town of Thibodaux, Louisiana has celebrated Mardi Gras each year since 1955. There, the Carnival calendar includes five parades, the oldest being the Krewe of Chronos and which attracts about 20,000 parade- goers. The Krewe of Cleophas, held on the Sunday afternoon preceding Mardi Gras in Thibodaux, is one of the nation's longest, with more than 40 floats being featured. Lake Charles, in southwest Louisiana, hosts a Krewe of Krewes parade, which is billed as the second largest parade in the state. It also hosts parades for children and even pets. Many other cities and towns throughout southern Louisiana are the scene of Mardi Gras parades in the weeks leading up to Shrove Tuesday and some also on that day. These communities include Covington, Mandeville, Golden Meadow, Lockport, Larose, Grand Isle, Morgan City, Berwick, Patterson, Jeanerette, Grand Marais, New Iberia, St. Martinville, Franklin, Sunset, Opelousas, Baton Rouge, Bogalusa, Port Allen, Addis, Livonia, Maringouin and Norwood. Tens of thousands of revelers attend Baton Rouge's satirical Spanish Town parade on the Saturday before Mardi Gras.
In parts of the Cajun country of southwestern Louisiana, the traditional Courir du Mardi Gras (French - Running of the Mardi Gras) is still run, sometimes by maskers on horseback led by "Le Capitaine" who gather ingredients for making the communal meal (usually a gumbo). Participants gather in costume and move from home to home requesting ingredients for the night's meal. The requested homeowner may comply with their wishes, usually by giving some form of vegetable or live animal, such as a chicken or pig, to the members of the run. The homeowner will often release the animal and make the runners catch it. In many cases, if the homeowner refuses to give an ingredient, the runners will steal one. These Courir can be witnessed in Church Point, Louisiana, Eunice, Mamou, Louisiana, Ville Platte, and Elton, Louisiana. The costumes used in these events are often homemade, employing sheets, paints, and frequently masks of wire mesh, as well as traditional conical hats known as capuchons.
By the close of the 20th century, the celebration of Mardi Gras spread to North Louisiana, including parades in Shreveport, Louisiana by the Krewe of Centaur and the Krewe of Gemini and in Monroe and West Monroe by the Krewe of Janus. Alexandria also celebrates with parades and days of celebration. Other cities as well hold Mardi Gras parades. These cities include: Minden, Springhill, Nachotches and Columbia. Mardi Gras is one of the exceptions to the Louisiana law against wearing hoods and masks in public, the other two being Halloween and religious beliefs.
