The
History of Mardi Gras
article
and photographs by Jim Davis
Origins
The
history of Mardi Gras began long before
Europeans set foot in the New World. In mid
February the ancient Romans celebrated the Lupercalia,
a circus like festival not entirely unlike
the Mardi Gras we are familiar with today.
When Rome embraced Christianity, the early
Church fathers decided it was better to
incorporate certain aspects of pagan rituals
into the new faith rather than attempt to
abolish them altogether. Carnival became a
period of abandon and merriment that
preceded the penance of Lent, thus giving a
Christian interpretation to the ancient
custom.
Mardi
Gras came to America in 1699 with the French
explorer Iberville. Mardi Gras had been
celebrated in Paris since the Middle Ages,
where it was a major holiday. Iberville
sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, from where
he launched an expedition up the Mississippi
River. On March 3 of 1699, Iberville had set
up a camp on the west bank of the river
about 60 miles south of where New Orleans is
today. This was the day Mardi Gras was being
celebrated in France. In honor of this
important day, Iberville named the site Point
du Mardi Gras.
Mardi
Gras in the Twentieth Century
In
1809 Zulu appeared as a parody of Rex. The
Zulu King held a banana stalk scepter and
wore a lard can crown. He arrived on on
oyster lugger instead of a steamboat. Zulu
was destined to become one of the most
popular and beloved of all krewes.
Mardi
Gras was canceled during the dark years of
1918 and 1919 when the United States was
involved in the bloody fighting of the First
World War. The celebration struggled through
the 1920's and early 30's, which saw
Prohibition and The Great Depression.
The
krewe of Alla brought carnival to the West
Bank in 1934.
With
the rise of mass produced automobiles,
random truck riders had become part of the
Mardi Gras scene. In 1835 they organized
themselves into the Elkes Krewe of
Orleanians. The Krewe of Hermes appeared in
1937 and the Knights of Babylon in 1939.
Mardi
Gras prospered during the 1940's, although
it was canceled during the war years. In
1949 Louis Armstrong was King of the Zulu
parade and was pictured on the cover of time
magazine.
In
1950 the Duke and Duchess of Windsor visited
New Orleans during Mardi Gras. They honored
the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition by
bowing to kings of Rex and Comus at the
Comus ball. The Korean War put a damper on
festivities in 1951, but several krewes
joined forces to parade as the Krewe of
Patria on Mardi Gras day. The Fifties also
saw the replacement of mule drawn floats
with ones drawn by tractors and the
formation of several new krewes including
Zeus. Zeus was the first krewe to parade in
Metairie.
In
1961 Pete Fountain founded the Half-Fast
Walking Club, an immediate hit with the
crowds. Zulu came under pressure from
portions of the black community who thought
the krewe presented an undignified image.
The king resigned and the parade was almost
cancelled, but Zulu survived and was a main
attraction by 1969. The Sixties ended with
the debut of Bacchus. Bacchus aimed to bring
national attention to Mardi Gras with
gigantic floats and a Hollywood celebrity
(Danny Kaye) riding as its king. Bacchus
replaced the traditional ball with a supper
to which tickets could be purchased by
visitors and locals.
The
Seventies saw the debut of 18 new krewes and
the demise of 18 others. More than a dozen
krewes followed the lead of Bacchus by
placing celebrities in their parades. In
1974 Argus became the first Metairie parade
on Fat Tuesday. This year also saw
Endymion's rise to super krewe status. The
Seventies brought a ban on parading in the
French Quarter, ending a 117 year tradition.
Mardi Gras made national headlines at the
close of the decade with a police strike
which cancelled 13 parades in Orleans
Parish.
In
the 80's Mardi Gras gained 27 new parades
and lost 19. St. Bernard Parish suffered a
net loss of parades while Jefferson and St.
Tammany Parish experienced continued growth.
By the end of the decade Jefferson Parish
was experiencing an attendance rate of
600,000 people at its parades on Fat
Tuesday.
The
1980's were were good times for Mardi Gras.
In 1987 Rex brought back the custom of Lundi
Gras, the arrival of the Rex King on the
Mississippi River which had been celebrated
from 1874 through 1917. The traditional
tableau ball, however, lost popularity. Once
considered essential, only 10 krewes
continued the tradition of masked balls by
the end of the decade. Doubloons also lost
some of their popularity when several krewes
stopped producing them.
Source:
http://www.eastjeffersonparish.com/culture/MARDIGRA/HISTORY/history.htm
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