LEJ's Mardi Gras Glossary / February 2017
written by Leonard Earl Johnson
of Lafayette and New Orleans, Louisiana
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February 2017
LEJ's Mardi Gras Glossary
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BY Leonard Earl Johnson
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| Society of Ste Anne marching on Rue Royale at Kerlerec, New Orleans Mardi Gras / by Janis Turk |
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| LEJ.org at Parc Sans Souci, Lafayette photo credit Frank Parsley
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| Janis Turk and Karissa Kary photo Janis Turk |
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Many Yankee traders will awaken at home the week after Mardi Gras, with moss-stuffed voodoo dolls staring at them bewilderingly from atop their desks and computers.
We show them our "dis and dats," and they fill our hotels. We give them beads and they pay our rent and laugh at our jokes.
"Ever hear the one about the tourist who ate the paper bag at Antoine's?"
"Ever hear the one about the tourist who ate the paper bag at Antoine's?"
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Be Advised:
Carnival is like the Catholic Church,
the deeper you look the more there is to see.
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| Carnival celebrants / NOLa |
Carnival Season ~
Begins every year on January 6, but ends at different days on the calendar ~ but always on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent ~ a day that, by Canon Law, changes location in the month.
Begins every year on January 6, but ends at different days on the calendar ~ but always on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent ~ a day that, by Canon Law, changes location in the month.
This is done to keep Lent ever forty-suffering days long. To achieve this Carnival shrinks some years. Swells others. 2017 is one of the longer Carnivals.
Shrovetide (les Jours Gras) ~ The last three days of Carnival Season. Sunday is for going to Mass; Monday and Tuesday are called Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras ~ Fat Monday and Fat Tuesday respectively ~ and they are for everything you probably think Carnival is about.
Mardi Gras for the next few years
February 28, 2017;
February 13, 2018;
March 5, 2019;
February 25, 2020;
February 16, 2021;
March 1, 2022;
February 21, 2023;
February 13, 2024;
March 4, 2025;
February 17, 2026;
February 9, 2027.
February 13, 2018;
March 5, 2019;
February 25, 2020;
February 16, 2021;
March 1, 2022;
February 21, 2023;
February 13, 2024;
March 4, 2025;
February 17, 2026;
February 9, 2027.
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"It moves," L. A. Norma says, "it's alive!"
Ball (tableau ball) ~ A masked party featuring performances of scenes in still-life representing a specific theme. Can be deadly dull. Can be uproariously funny.
Moveable tableaus on Carnival Day (Mardi Gras) are the funniest. Who can forget the Westbank Big Hair Emergency Repair Krewe marching along fixing misshapen bouffants along parade routes of yore?
Boeuf Gras ~ The fatted bull or ox representing sweetly excessive death-to-the-fat, and the beginning of Lenten abstinence (true death). Said by journalist-emeritus and Mardi Gras overseers Arthur Hardy, and Errol Laborde to be the most photographed sight of Carnival.
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| Boeuf Gras ~ Rex parade ~ Mardi Gras ~ NOLa |
Captain ~ Leader of each Mardi Gras organization.
Court ~ The king, queen, maids and dukes of each Mardi Gras organization. There is a hierarchy here culminating in Rex. However, no court or krewe is more important than the one you are in.
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| Rex Doubloon Wikipedia |
Rex ~ One of the "Big Four" ~ oldest four krewes of New Orleans Carnival ~ founded in 1872 by a group calling itself, The School of Design. Ponder such a krewe name ~ with its religious, mythological and historical resonance ~ and you will see dimly into the mysteries of Carnival.
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Doubloons ~ Coin-like objects bearing some
Krewe insignia on one side and the parade theme on the obverse. Doubloons were first introduced 1959-60 by New Orleans artist H. Alvin Sharpe. They were gold colored aluminium and first thrown by Rex in 1960. For a few years they were generically called Rex Doubloons. Today doubloons are thrown by many krewes in various colors, themes and names.
Krewe insignia on one side and the parade theme on the obverse. Doubloons were first introduced 1959-60 by New Orleans artist H. Alvin Sharpe. They were gold colored aluminium and first thrown by Rex in 1960. For a few years they were generically called Rex Doubloons. Today doubloons are thrown by many krewes in various colors, themes and names.
Favor ~ This is a personalized souvenir. Given by organization members to friends.
Invitation ~ A non-transferable printed request for attendance at a Mardi Gras ball.
King Cake ~ This is an oval cake (traditionally brioche but today anything)
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| King Cake with Baby |
in Mardi Gras tricolor, with a plastic baby doll hidden inside. The baby doll is loosely seen as the Epiphanous Baby Jesus, and concurrently all temporal joys-on-Earth.
Songwriter/singer/musician Al Johnson's beloved Carnival Time opens with the line, "The Green Room is smokin' and the Plaza's burnin' down / Throw my Baby out the window, let those joints burn down..." An act of rescue or callous disregard? Or,
as we see it in New Orleans, both!
The person who finds the doll is crowned "King" and buys the next colorful cake and gives the next party.
In New Orleans, the first Carnival parade each year is organized by a happily knit group of swells on Twelfth Night, January 6 (King Cake Day, a.k.a. Epiphany). This krewe calls themselves the Phuny Phorty Phellows.
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| Phunny Phorty Phellows Street Car Parade / NOLA.com |
Krewe ~ a generic term for all Carnival organizations and clubs. Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology are sources for half the krewe names. Some clubs are named after neighborhoods, while others are named after historical figures or places.
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| Rio parade, Lafayette |
Amid large parades in Acadiana's Hub City of Lafayette rolls the samba-swinging Krewe of Carnival en Rio.
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Clubs are chartered by most cities as non-profit entities and are financed by dues, by sale of krewe-emblemed merchandise to members (who give them as favors) and by fund-raising projects. Mardi Gras krewes are sometimes involved in charity work. But not much.
Lundi Gras ~ French for Fat Monday (Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday). "Fat" is a broad term for prosperity and joy, the very things being done in Carnival-excess before somber Lent takes them all away.
The Day before Mardi Gras from 1897 to 1917 was celebrated by arrival of Rex aboard a steamboat on the Mississippi River. In 1987, under the New Orleans Mayoralty of Sidney
Barthelemy, a local
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| Courtesy of Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club |
seminarian turned Tulane trained master-of-sociology ~ with mild manners and movie star looks ~ revived the practice. Ultimately with the addition of King Zulu.
Each year since ~ aboard separate vessels, and for the last few years, Rex has come on the streetcar.
Zulu and Rex arrive at Spanish Plaza and greet each other, at the foot of Poydras Street.
"One River Two Boats!" ~ L. A. Norma wrote at the time in a letter to the old Times-Picayune daily.
Comus ~ One of the oldest krewes. First paraded in 1857 ~ four years before Secession ~ with the parade theme: The Past, The Present, The Future.
Comus does not currently parade ~ a bitter hangover from political battles with former City Council Woman, Dorothy Mae Taylor, over race restrictions in luncheon clubs and Carnival krewes.
Comus and Rex still hold an elaborate meeting-of-the-courts ball on Mardi Gras night. But only Rex parades.
Henri Schindler, Carnival Artistic Designer makes a touching statement on the meaning of Mardi Gras in New Orleans old line artistic circles.
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| Lee Circle, Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans from Confederate Memorial Hall Museum |
"You lose, you blues," a musician I know says.
New Orleans is a city built along a bend in The River, and organized around Carnival. Old line comedians tempered with cheeky Carnival spirit have been seen feigning the Sign of The Cross while saying, "Comus, Momus, Proteus and Rex," the big four of old line New Orleans krewes.
Zulu ~ A black krewe formed some forty years after the Civil War, and the post-war
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| click to read caption |
Battle of Liberty Place ~ a Reconstruction era battle that took place at the foot of Canal Street in front of today's Harrah's Casino. The battle's monument is in the news lately as it, too, is targeted by Mayor Landrieu for removal. Another Confederate memory banished to the land of
out-of-sight-dom.
The obelisk commemorates the bloody battle of 14 September 1874. It was part of a terrorist plot that removed the elected governor, William Pitt Kellogg. The inscription on the monument refers to the National Elections two years later ~ 1876 ~ as the moment that ended failed-Reconstruction, and united Louisiana White Supremacy with Yankee Jim Crow Laws. Names of whites fallen in the battle were inscribed in the stone. Names of fallen blacks were not.
"De facto wage-slavery became the law of the land!"our pedicab driver says.
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| New Orleans Civil War Era US Custom House and Post Office free downloadable poster |
"At best," Norma chortled from inside a plume of cigarette smoke.
Some think the insurrection should be sharply remembered. Two out-of-town deconstruction companies hired to remove the Confederate memorials sent lawyer-letters to The City asking out of their contracts because of death threats.
For three days, in 1874, Governor Kellogg and his cronies (krewe?) took refuge in the newly built U. S. Custom House and Post Office, a handsome Union thumbprint first occupied in 1856 and serving through the Nineteenth Century (including the years of War Between the States) as the U. S. Post Office and Custom House. Still standing, at 423 Canal Street, across North Peters Street from Brooks Brothers, and not more than a block away from the sight of the Battle of Liberty Place. Today the crestfallen edifice is home to the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium.
"The Bug House," Norma calls it.
The 1874 insurrection was drummed up by the Crescent City White League, a group of Confederate sympathizers, planters, and World traders who wanted what everyone wanted. At least everyone who was a World trader, planter, or Confederate sympathizer.
Hell, even President Grant wants this, they reckoned. Because, an ill-functioning Port of New Orleans makes for an ill-functioning Western Expansion of the United States. And if the Louisiana Purchase! Hell, the very War Between the States, itself, were for anything ~ more than evil slavery ~ they were for this! Grant would be too! So felt the White League-rs, anyway.
It was, however, reestablishment of a new Confederacy they were talking about, though this time aligned more with Washington and less with London.
It was, however, reestablishment of a new Confederacy they were talking about, though this time aligned more with Washington and less with London.
Masterminds even sent a delegation to plead their case before Ulysses S. Grant, recently home from the war, and newly elected to steady the wheel of the US ship of state.
They told President Grant their Big Swamp City, port of New Orleans would make a fine seat for this new Confederacy.
Having personally just fought the Civil War to defeat Robert E. Lee and such a Confederacy,
Grant reasoned he must now send in troops to free Governor Kellogg, and said no to the boys from Louisiana. Whom he sent safely home to moan and groan over their grillades and grits for the next century and a half.
One wonders if Grant might have hanged them ~ it was surely treason they were preaching. Or if they were civil and polite at a sociable meeting that might have been at the Willard Hotel? Did they drink whiskey? We know Grant did. Did any of the Louisiana boys visit the famous pleasure houses of the victorious capitol?
Some of the men in the Louisiana delegation were from Grant Parish, founding site of the Louisiana White League. Grant Parish was a 1869 "Reconstruction Parish" (there were eleven created fromWinn and Rapides parishes after The War). Grant Parish is in an English part of Louisiana ~ around Alexandria and Pineville and where William Tecumseh Sherman once lived.
Sherman was from Ohio, and a recent graduate of West Point.
He was not yet a Union general when he was hired, in 1859, as first president of the newly founded
Known as "The Little Seminary," in its day. Later it moved to Baton Rouge and changed its name to Louisiana State University.
Yes, boys and girls, the first president of L. S. U. was
William Tecumseh Sherman!
"Guess that's why Governor Jindal thought he could starve L. S. U., and gain favor with both his hired D. C. handlers and his backhome Rome-burners," Norma said through a cloud of cigarette smoke.
"Sherman burned Atlanta," our cabbie said,
"Bobby Jindal burned Baton Rouge!"
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| Courtesy of Louisiana State University Libraries |
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| Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Governor and Republican US Presidential no-chance ~ absent from state much of his term. Led Louisiana from budget surplus to insolvency. Stood against Donald Trump 2015-16 Courtesy of Rumproast.com |
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Originally Zulu poked heavy handed fun at the white krewes, and would neither publish their parade route nor apply for City parade permits. They prefered to catch up with Comus, Momus, Proteus, or Rex, and taunt them unannounced.
The old line krewes did not like this and had been working for some way to stop it ever since it started.
The old line krewes did not like this and had been working for some way to stop it ever since it started.
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| Courtesy of Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club |
"You can imagine the indignity of a float full of white-faced blacks coming up behind your Fatted Ox throwing coconuts!" Norma says this to visitors as she blows Camel Cigarette smoke in their faces ~ this time of year laced with Marijuana.
Mayor Barthelemy's 1987 solution softened the satire and Zulu now obtains a parade permit and publishes their route, usually following the Rex Parade.
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| Rex |
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| Celebrant, NOLa / Carlos Detres |
Throws include doubloons, plastic cups and beads with and without krewe emblems.
Ash Wednesday ~ The day after Mardi Gras, and the beginning of the Lenten fasting season.
Hangover ~ This one you may already know. It is most appropriate for Ash Wednesday.
Carnival is celebrated in most towns in Coastal Louisiana. One town most famously not celebrating Carnival is Abbeville. I do not know why. When you ask locals they say it is because they host the yearly Louisiana Cattle Festival. A large effort.
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| LEJ.org T-shirt |
Still it is not unheard of to entertain more than one festival per town. Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans have them almost weekly.
"Daily in Baton Rouge," Norma says, "when the legislature is in session."
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| Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
The most notable Louisiana Carnivals outside of New Orleans massive effort is the Courir de Mardi Gras. These are events where participants ride horseback from house to house asking for contributions to the communal gumbo pot.
Among these items is a live chicken or two. A grand drunken chase ensues. Hardly anyone is injured if you do not count the chicken.
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| Courir de Mardi Gras |
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LEJ.org, Royal at Kerlerec / Janis Turk
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This Saga of Carnival is a perfect example of a kind of New Orleans and Louisiana social studies practiced by those poorer souls who come to "watch" Carnival.
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| LEJ.org at Carnival Time / Mark Konikoff |
We who know better know Carnival is a participatory thing.
Come take another turn around the dancefloor, Louisiana, them smart folks are watching us again.
All Rights Reserved.
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For more L. E. J.'s Louisiana, Yours Truly in a Swamp go to www.LEJ.org
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| Sidney Barthelemy then and now |
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| Al Groos, General Manager Royal Sonesta; Al "Carnival Time" Johnson; Pat Brady; Henri Schindler; Leonard Earl Johnson, and Marvis Early photo credit Mark Konikoff * * *  * * * Confederate Memorial Hall Museum, New Orleans (keeper of Queen Mildred Lee's (1884) Comus treasures) * * * |
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LEJ's Louisiana, Yours Truly in a Swamp
It is written by Leonard Earl Johnson
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© 2017, Leonard Earl Johnson,
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| LEJ.org with Maidens (click image for high resolution) Photo: Anson Trahan |
is a monthly e-column @ www.LEJ.org
and at Les Amis de Marigny, New Orleans,
publication of the
It is written by Leonard Earl Johnson
of Lafayette and New Orleans, Louisiana
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© 2017, Leonard Earl Johnson,
All Rights Reserved.
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posted by LEJ's Louisiana | 1:38 AM
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