Endymion rides into New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

Yesterday was a three parade day for me, thus the reason I didn’t post a blog entry. I’m taking a break from Mardi Gras today, and may instead go to see a couple more Plantation Houses. I need to balance the craziness with some serenity. And yesterday was indeed craziness but in a good way. I apologize for the length of this blog, but since I’m using it as a personal diary as well as keeping y’all (Oops, I mean you all) in the loop I wanted to document a bunch of things.

I headed to the French Quarter yesterday morning and it was 10:00am-ish when I got there. When I arrived, and as I started to walk through the French Quarter in search of breakfast, I crossed Bourbon Street – and the craziness had already begun! Of course there weren’t that many people there, but there were a few. It’s entirely possible that they had spent the night on a sidewalk there and that they we’re still a little intoxicated from the night before. Already there was a pretty young lady on the street, willing to take off her shirt and have her picture taken with you in a very skimpy bra and G-String. And there were already some taking her up on it, for a price of course.

I decided to treat myself to a nice breakfast and found my way to Brennan’s for Breakfast, an institution in the French Quarter since 1946. It’s 8 separate dining rooms (including a lovely interior courtyard that was too cold to use at 10 in the morning) have recently been renovated and the rooms I saw were beautiful. The service was top notch and the breakfast was fabulous. I started with a baked apple (with pecans and brown sugar, etc) and then had Eggs Sardou (poached eggs in a shell made from artichokes in a Parmesan crust, on a bed of spinach, topped with Charon Sauce). I’m no foodie, but mmm mmm good.

Then I wandered over to Canal Street to find a spot at the barricade for the first parade. So while we’re waiting for the parade maybe I should explain a bit about the history of parades and Mardi Gras in general which I’ve learned about. New Orleans was first settled by the Frenchman Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and they originally set up camp on the river 60 miles from present day New Orleans on March 3rd, 1699 and they named it Point du Mardi Gras since it was being celebrated on that date in France. As the new colony grew, pre-Lent balls were held as they were at home in France, but when the Spanish took power they were banned, which continued when it became an American City in 1823. However, under pressure from the large Creole population the balls were once again allowed and street masking was officially made legal.

In the early 19th century Mardi Gras celebrations had grown to include masked revelers on foot and on horseback and in carriages and in 1837 the first “parade” is documented. There were problems with rowdiness for a couple of generations and the parade was almost banned once again. Some members of a group from Alabama called the Cowbellians, who had organized New Years Eve parades in Alabama, formed an organization called Comus in 1857. They provided some structure and established many of the present day Mardi Gras traditions and coined the name “Krewe”. Krewes have traditionally been secret groups, taking on a mythological name, organizing themed parades with floats and costumed “maskers” and holding a celebration or ball after the parade. Many of the present Krewes were established in those early days. Rex and Momus in 1872, and Proteus in 1882. Various other traditions such as crowning a King and the “King Cake” tradition, as well as “throws” came in subsequent years.

Mardi Gras has had its ups and downs over the years, during wars and a threat that the Hell’s Angels was going to sweep into town creating havoc (which didn’t happen) and bad weather. Katrina in 2006 threatened to cancel the celebrations because some thought it was not a time to celebrate but it was decided that the people of New Orleans would continue with Mardi Gras in bad times as well as in good. Many of the floats celebrated and honoured the first responders and other heros of the storm (not likely FEMA).

These days, Krewes are still somewhat secret organizations and membership in the Krewe requires one to be sponsored and to pay a hefty membership fee. In addition, those members who want to be “riders” on the Krewe’s floats pay for all their own “throws”. It’s reported that this year’s Endymion riders paid an average of $2000 each for their throws. Their parade started with mounted riders in a tribute to their origins, as well as a team of beautiful Clydesdales pulling a coach. They had 36 floats, (one that held 250 riders on nine-different sections), and 30 college and high school bands from 8 states. Their ball for 20,000 people was held at the Superdome after the parade featuring Pitbull and Steven Tyler as the entertainment.

So, here I am waiting for the first of three parades on a sunny, but cool Saturday. This parade was put on by the Iris Krewe and consisted of all women. Each Krewe has branded throws branded as well as the standard beads, and it’s always a bonus to get one of the special branded things. Some are beads with an ornament added, plastic drink cups, small stuffies, light sticks, other jewelry pieces, and feather boas, (one of which I got in addition to a lovely interaction with the “rider” at the Endymion parade. He appreciated my smiled “Thank you” after he made sure I got one of the branded beads and he called me over to give me one of the feather boas and said my smile made all that it had cost him to be there worthwhile”. Rather nice. I said, (well shouted over the bedlam), “of course, I’m Canadian”.) I ended up with a lot of beads, many of which I gave away, along with any stuffies, etc that I caught.

After the parade ended at around 3:30 I headed over to drop most of my beads off in the car and get something to drink (tea!) and to find a place to sit for a while. I headed down Bourbon Street and the crowd had increased significantly, as had the craziness. It’s not illegal to carry alcohol in the street here, and people were carrying drinks in fish bowl glasses and foot high plastic boots with a handle, and oversize beer containers, and people were drinking champagne from the bottle. There wasn’t any evidence of nudity or really bad behaviour that I saw, although I was not in the thick of things and I purposely didn’t go back after that, choosing personal safety instead.

I got back to the second parade route after it had already started and didn’t get my “barricade position”, so I wasn’t as successful at getting throws, but really, how many more beads does one need! I was content to take a few pictures with just my point and shoot (I didn’t take my DSLR camera yesterday just for security reasons. I also didn’t take more than a few dollars, and one credit card secured safely out of reach of pick pockets.). The marching bands are just great, and I felt sorry for the ones having to march at the end of the parade because they’re wading through broken beads and plastic bags discarded by the riders. Several of the bands ended up stuck at my location because there was a turn up ahead that took the floats some time to get around, and they put on some great shows of music but also choreographed dancing. The crowd gets into it as well, and I had some real fun with it.

Since the third parade was the big one, I went to get my spot for it right after the second parade and ended up sitting on a curb with a lovely young couple of freshman students from Alabama attending Loyola here in New Orleans. I had a chance to interact with them throughout the wait and during the parade. That’s the part of this that is so much fun.

Just a mention of security – Homeland Security had a heavy presence. A group of 20 of them walked the route ahead of each parade, they had dogs walking on either side of the back of one of the floats along the route, and their vehicles were everywhere on the side streets. The New Orleans police had a huge presence as well, obviously. They were friendly and interacting with the crowd in a casual and positive way, until something happened. A skirmish broke out just a few feet from me, and instantly, there were 5 of them there, breaking it up. One officer who was particularly friendly with the crowd moved with amazing speed across the street in front of a float and instantly became the serious peace keeper. They handled the first outbreak with as little strong arming as possible, but when the individual created a second disturbance he was removed in short order and around the corner into the arms of waiting officers.

I walked back to my car at 10:30 before the parade was over and the police presence and that of many families who had just had a fun day made my comfortable. There was no question there were some scary types around as well, and a lot of drunks, but I was careful about my surroundings all the time. But none of the security concerns took away a bit from my total enjoyment of an experience of a lifetime. Mardi Gras in New Orleans should be on everyone’s bucket list.

P.S. Dates for future Mardi Gras:

2017 Feb 28
2018 Feb 13
2019 Mar 5
2020 Feb 25