Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures

To wrap up the 2012 Carnival/Mardi Gras season. Offered up, mostly without comment, because they really do speak for themselves.

The Krewe Of Tuck:

The Krewe of Tucks first began in 1969 as a group of Loyola University students.

The name "Krewe of Tucks" comes from the name of an uptown pub where two college students decied to start their own krewe after failing at their attempt to become white flambeaux carriers. The parade has grown immensely over the years. In 1983, the parade became a daytime event, and in 1986 the parade's course finally reached downtown.

The Krewe Of Zulu: Early in 1909, a group of laborers who had organized a club named "The Tramps," went to the Pythian Theater to see a musical comedy performed by the Smart Set. The comedy included a skit entitled, "There Never Was and Never Will Be a King Like Me," about the Zulu Tribe...

That is how Zulu began, as the many stories go...

Years of extensive research by Zulu's Historian staff seem to indicate that Zulu's beginning was much more complicated than that. The earliest signs of organization came from the fact that the majority of these men belonged to a Benevolent Aid Society. Benevolent Societies were the first forms of insurance in the Black community where, for a small amount of dues, members received financial help when sick or financial aid when burying deceased members.

Conversations and interviews with older members also indicate that in that era the city was divided into wards, and each ward had its own group or "Club." The Tramps were one such group. After seeing the skit, they retired to their meeting place (a room in the rear of a restaurant/bar in the 1100 block of Perdido Street), and emerged as Zulus. This group was probably made up of members from the Tramps, the Benevolent Aid Society and other ward-based groups.

While the "Group" marched in Mardi Gras as early as 1901, their first appearance as Zulus came in 1909, with William Story as King.

The group wore raggedy pants, and had a Jubilee-singing quartet in front of and behind King Story. His costume of "lard can" crown and "banana stalk" scepter has been well documented. The Kings following William Story, (William Crawford - 1910, Peter Williams - 1912, and Henry Harris - 1914), were similarly attired.

1915 heralded the first use of floats, constructed on a spring wagon, using dry good boxes. The float was decorated with palmetto leaves and moss and carried four Dukes along with the King. That humble beginning gave rise to the lavish floats we see in the Zulu parade today.

Just wandering around on Mardi Gras (plus some good shots of my neighborhood, too!):

The "repent or burn" crowd had a small, but friendly, counterpoint

They were walking toward us when I said "Strike a pose, boys."

Yes, it *is* a centaur. And before you ask, wheels.

Chalk footprints. Because, why not?

Bourbon Street Stories

As I wrote over at Pobble Thoughts, Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street was a little insane. However, it is possible to get beads while walking down the street other nights of Carnival. Okay, I suppose it's possible to get them on Mardi Gras, too, but dear Lord, I didn't try.Perhaps the fact that I was sober had something to do with it, but I think, more likely, it had more to do with the fact that I am me. Cheering at a parade is one thing. Bead begging on Bourbon is another. Mostly, I made eye contact with people up on the balconies, they smiled, and threw me beads. But a few other times, the story was a little more interesting. Here are the stories I liked best...


1. There was a masked woman who was trying to throw to me. The first time, someone else caught them (I'm short). The second time, they went behind me and by the time I thought to turn around and pick them up, someone else had them. I held up my finger to say "one more time." She repeated the motion and threw very carefully. I caught them and blew her kisses. By the time I had looked back up from putting them around my neck, she was gone.

2. A woman wanted me to throw her a set of my beads first, only I couldn't get one untangled in a timely fashion. I shrugged and assured her I was sorry and moved on. Only behind me, she was throwing beads to Lithus anyway. Once he caught back up with me, we untangled one of my beads and went back. She couldn't believe we'd come back to pay our debt, so to speak. Biggest sober grin I saw all night.

3. A set of really good beads landed right in front of me, so I picked them up. But I could tell by that they had been meant for the woman ahead of me. I doubled checked with the guy on the balcony who had thrown them and, yes, they had been meant for her. So, I gave them to her. The guy on the balcony threw me a set of even better beads "for being so cool."

4. A man on a balcony had a huge armful of beads and was trying to get people to do crazy things for them. I held my arms out, to tell him I wanted some. He aped the position as if to say "what will you do for them?" I blew him kisses. Laughing, he threw me beads. Not as many as if I had gone crazy, but beads nonetheless.

5. My favorite ~ We were getting near the end of the street, the craziness was dying down a bit, when we noticed a group of college-aged guys on a balcony, and they noticed us, noticing them. One yelled down "Show us your tits!" To which I yelled back, "Oh, baby, you don't want to see these tits. They are 42 years old!" They all laughed so hard and threw me two sets of their best beads. For not showing my tits. :)
*note ~ the man far closer to my age down on the street with us said "I'd like to see them" which, I admit, was nice in a drunken, Mardi Gras kind of way. But no, I didn't.

Knights of Babylon

It's Carnival down here in New Orleans, Lithus' and my first. Back when I lived in Massachusetts, it got to the point that I avoided Salem in October. Just wouldn't go. I can see getting to that place with NOLA in February. Just get the hell out of Dodge and leave it to the tourists and the Krewes. But this first year? This first year, I'm nowhere close to that.

Lithus and I have been lucky enough to be doing things like going to the grcoery store and SURPRISE! There's a parade. Or coming back from a doctor's appointment and *poof* there's another parade. Although, I admit, when the brass band stopped outside our bedroom window at 8:30 one morning, my first words were indeed "What The Fuck is that????" and I was weak for a moment. But I pulled the blankets up over my head and went back to sleep, and all was well.

However, last night, we decided to actually attend a parade intentionally. We ended up just a few blocks from our place, at the Knights of Babylon parade. According to the Mardi Gras website, the Knight of Babylon are:

Founded in 1939, the Knights of Babylon have proudly kept their traditional float designs, which remain unchanged after more than 70 years. Each float in the Knights of Babylon parade is a chapter in the story being told. The krewe consists of more than 200 knights. Their king, or Sargon, takes his title from the legendary Babylonian ruler, and the current king's identity is never revealed to the public.

Which sounds incredibly formal for what looked like this:

Souvenir stalls get pulled up and down the street. They are as brightly colored as anything the parades have to offer.

The parade started off with Knight of Babylon's jester:

Then got rolling with the Marine Corps band. We all cheered until you could hardly hear them play. There was a delay right in front of us, so the guys on horns broke away and jammed on their own for a bit. They were being followed by a high school band and headed down. It was good natured and fun, but the high school band got schooled. Bless their hearts, they knew it, too.

And the parade starts back up again

From then on out, it was just floats and music and beads and revelry...

The Navy made an appearance, too

My favorite float

Yep, I managed to attend the parade based mostly on classic literature, with a specific focus on the Bard, himself. You can't tell me there isn't a certain amount of magic during Mardi Gras...

But It Can Also Be Done This Way...

My last post was about how Lithus and I celebrated Southern Decadence. But that was hardly the only way to celebrate it. We had to run to the grocery store and ended up attending the Southern Decadence Parade. You gotta love a town where a trip to the grocery store results in this...