Mardi Gras, or Carnival to be more specific, is the season between King’s Day/Epiphany/12th Night/January 6th and Mardi Gras Day always lands precisely 47 days before Easter and one day before Ash Wednesday. Because Easter changes each year (it’s always the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox), so does Mardi Gras.
In New Orleans, we celebrate this time with parades, Mardi Gras balls, and miscelllaneous celebrations.
I grew up loving Mardi Gras. Some of my fondest childhood memories are going with my Dad and sister to catch parades. These days, I do a podcast dedicated to Carnival called Tales From the Parade Route with my friend Kirk. We interview represntatives of the various Carnival Krewes dance teams, and “personalities” of Carnival that make it the best free celebration on Earth. While we say it is free, it is free for revelers to attend parades and watch them roll, but most participants in the parade have to pay a feee to ride and purchase “throws” or trinkets, beads, and baubles to toss to the eager attendees.
Each year, Kirk and I unofficially challenge ourselves to a Carnival adventure by catching as many parades and attending as many functions that time and life allow. The most parades we’ve made in a year was around 45, but we had lots of luck with perfect storm situations that allowed us to bounce easily between parade routes and get there right in time for the parade to begin. We try to attend as many parades as possible in New Orleans, Metairie, Westbank, Northshore and other surrounding areas.
Kirk and I are alos proud members of the Krewe of Excalibur in Metairie. We roll on the evening of the 2nd Friday before Mardi Gras Day. Kirk also rides in the Krewe of Carrollton Uptown. Carnival Krewes are groups of members from local and afar that get together and celebrate. Excalibur hosts a tableau ball a few weeks prior to our parade..
More about Krewes, Parades and Balls
Besides parading, many Krewes host a ball. Some Krewes choose to not parade, but they host a ball annually and select royalty.
Earlier, I mentioned Excalibur’s tableau ball. A tableau ball is a formal party where officers, royalty, maids and dukes are costumed with extravagant costumes decorated with rhinestones, sequins, glitter, and feathers, telling a story of the Krewe’s theme that year. Some Krewes may have a ball, but may also host an “Extravaganza” after their parade, where world-class bands perform and the parade passes through the party hall. These events are often hosted in the Convention Center or Superdome, are attended by thousands, and go until the wee hours of night.
Royalty may be chosen from their membership or to honor someone in the community or society that exudes the enrgy and pillars that the Krewe represents. Some Krewes traditionally pick a celebrity as their monarch like the Krewes of Bacchus and Orpheus. Some may have the celebrities as grand marshals, like Endymion does.
Additionally, Krewes will hold local gatherings throughout the year to build fellowship, discuss Krewe business, and allow riders to view and purchase thorws. Some events will be more of a meeting, while others may be a social night like a bowling night or a throw decorating party. Other events may be a fundraiser either for Krewe operations or for philinthropic causes.
Signature Throws
Our krewe additionally has a signature Decorated throw – dragon eggs. For many years, the primary decorated throw of Carnival was the Zulu Coconut. Over the past dozen or 2 years, more krewes have embraced the idea of hand decorated throws. Hand decorated throws are a keepsake throw, often decorated by the rider using paint, glitter, rhinestones, or a combination of all of the above.
Our Krewe’s dragon eggs are plastic molded egg that opens similar to a plastic Easter Egg that you may have hunted for in the backyard as a kid. We fill our eggs with a variety of items like doubloons, beads, candy, but most importantly – our Shoulder Dragons. The shoulder dragons are a plush dragon doll that has a magnetic clasp so you can strap it onto your shirt collar.
Doubloons
Additionally, we collect doubloons. Doubloons are, in the simplest term, coins. Carnival Krewes began throwing doubloons in the early 1960’s with Rex throwing the first. Legend has it that H. Alvin Sharp proposed the idea of doubloons to the captain of Rex and was laughed at because the Captain thought they would hurt people. Sharp quickly reached in his pocket and threw a handful at the captain in his chair and doubloons were born.
Many Carnival Krewes throw doubloons reflecting their logo and theme for the given year. Some doubloons may celebrate royalty or officers for the Krewe for that year. Others highlight a particular float in that year’s parade. Some may be dedicated to marching groups.
Most doubloons are aluminum and may be annodized with different colors. Some riders also throw Poker chips. Others throw Wooden nickels. Some Krewes make special doubloons of precious metals for their members and wildest of fans to purchase.
But they all have the same premise – to serve as a small keepsake from the parade.
In New Orleans, there is a club dedicated to doubloon and other krewe memorbilia collecting, The Crescent City Doubloon Collectors Club. We meet several times pre and post Carnival season to trade doubloons, compile a complete list of the doubloons that were made that season, and discuss cherished Carnival memories.