In some parts of the world, today is Mardi Gras. Elsewhere, like here in New Hampshire, it’s just Tuesday.
I miss Mardi Gras. Today is technically the day you say, “Happy Mardi Gras!” The season actually starts on January 6th and builds up to Mardi Gras Day. The season is referred to as Carnival. When I live in New Orleans, I celebrated Mardi Gras every year. It’s just what you do in New Orleans. I always enjoyed the parades and floats.
One of my favorite parades is a small walking parade, St. Anne’s parade. It starts down in Bywater, just a few doors down from the house I owned for a few years. My then husband and I would dress up and join the other Mardi Gras revelers in a slow stroll towards the French Quarter. More people joined the parade as it went along through the neighborhoods. By the time it got to the end of The Faubourg Marigny, it was pretty large. There were lots of people in costumes, some elaborate and involved lots of material. Others involved nothing more than a lot of body paint. Carnival and Mardi Gras Day is about the only time of year you will probably not get arrested for public nudity…at least women won’t. And in some parts of town, the men either. It was prime people watching. This parade was mostly locals. It started around 9 or 10am and a lot of the group were already deep in their cups by then…some likely never stopping from the previous night. There was lots of musicians, sometimes not always playing the same tune, but always having fun.
There are many things I miss about New Orleans during Mardi Gras. King Cake! Yes, I could order one, but it’s not the same as being there. Besides, what would I do with an entire king cake?! And Popeye’s! This is the one time of year I would eat Popeye’s and not care about the calories. I miss weird things too. Walking home from the French Quarter back to campus in college because the street cars didn’t run all the way to the FQ during Carnival. A group of us would stumble down the neutral ground on St. Charles Ave back to campus. Sidewalk side…Neutral Ground side. Go cups; although this is a year-round thing, not a Mardi Gras thing.
I don’t have many pictures from the years of Mardi Gras I attended. We never took cameras with us and those were the days before cell phone cameras. Or good cell phone cameras. The little flip phones of the early 00’s didn’t have quality cameras. All of my pictures are in my head instead of committed to digital memory.
This year Mardi Gras and all of the parades were canceled back in November or some such. Since we are still living in a pandemic, it was a smart decision, in my opinion. New Orleanians were creative in how they’ve chosen to celebrate this year. The parades may have been cancelled, but celebrating such an important season in Nola culture is not cancelled! Many friends have posted pictures on Facebook and Insta this year of the house float decorations. People either DIY’d their own decorations to turn their homes/yards/porches into Mardi Gras floats or they hired local artists that usually create and build elaborate floats for the Mardi Gras krews. I’ve loved seeing them and I personally am hoping it becomes a new part of the culture to celebrate the Carnival season.
Happy Mardi, y’all!
Goddess Musings 