Small Town Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras wasn't always the drunken and debauched celebration popularized by late 20th Century New Orleans.  The Gulf Coast tradition originated with French settlers in what is now Mobile, Alabama.  And in smaller towns all along the Gulf Coast you can get the traditional feel of a Family Mardi Gras:

 

 Slidell, Louisiana is a town east of New Orleans, now considered a suburb; almost wiped out by Katrina and receiving little  attention.  But it seems to have had a better recovery according friends of ours who still live there.

 

More on Traditional Mardi Gras Celebration Monday.......

Lundi Gras

Lundi Gras is the relatively recent name for the pre-celebration marking the arrival of REX (King of Mardi Gras and the leader of the oldest Krewe).  He arrives by boat on Monday.  Recently New Orleans has revived Lundi Gras as a day for family and culture, marked by various live music venues along the river front.

For Lundi Gras, and also to Celebrate Black History Month in America, I am going to introduce you to a tradition little known outside New Orleans:  Mardi Gras Indians.

The tradition celebrates the affinity between Native Americans and African Slaves whom they often aided in escape and adopted into their disease devastated tribes.  In the Caribbean and South America, Escaped Slaves formed alliances with the Indigenous peoples to form 'Maroon ' communities, which still exist in some countries.

 

Extended Families form "Tribes" that wear costumes of similar color and design. 

  

The radition is passed down through the family to its yougest members.

  

Happy Lundi Gras! 

It's Fat Tuesday!

Happy Mardi Gras...as we prepare for the solemn observance of Lent.........

 

This is what people typically expect from New Orleans Mardi Gras.............

 

 Lots of Drinking...........

  

And trash in the streets............. 

   

Costumes at the Bourbon Street Awards............

  

And more 'conservative attire'.....................