The Events of Thursday, February 3, 2011

                Today was a day of disappointments and surprises. Upon waking up, I was disappointed because we had gotten back really late last night and had to get up really early this morning. After showers, we rode the KOA’s shuttle into riverside New Orleans. (If you ask for directions for anything, locals will always say if it is the riverside or lakeside of New Orleans because New Orleans is located on a peninsula between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain). On the drive, our shuttle driver did a great job telling us the details about Mardi Gras that everyone wants to know and most locals just aren’t saying. So we were well informed by the time the shuttle dropped us off literally on the riverside. The Mississippi was a muddy brown and the sky above a dreary grey. And it was COLD‼ Looks like a great day to be inside Mardi Gras World.

                Mardi Gras World does provide a free shuttle … to those who stayed at local hotels. So, we had to walk. The museum was supposed to be a short walk away, but as you shall soon see, we found out differently. We walked the Riverwalk as far as we could and then went into the Riverwalk Mall to look for restrooms. Along the way we met a couple from Massachusetts who were also going to Mardi Gras World. We wandered the mall looking as dumb as tourists are allowed to look and finally found an exit on the third floor that would get us going in the right direction. With the Massachusetts couple we asked directions, weaved our way through the streets and sidewalks and across railways and back across railways for forty five minutes, until we finally reached MARDI GRAS WORLD! We found it at the end of a convention center whose halls labeled all the way to the letter J! We had walked two and a half miles according to Mom’s pedometer‼

                At the entrance, a 20 foot tall head of a jester taunted us and, with a pointed finger, showed where the entrance doors were. Following a short path that gave us a preview of the many floats that we would see in the warehouse, we found ourselves in the gift shop and purchased our tickets. Instead of stickers to show that we had paid, we were given Mardi Gras beads. After wandering through the shop, we started our tour at eleven. Our tour guide, Brooke, made it quite clear that she knew absolutely everything about Mardi Gras and New Orleans and did a good job showing us around. Our first stop was the theatre. After stopping by a refreshment table to get our freezing selves coffee and tea, we watched a short film about the history of Mardi Gras and how all the different aspects of the holiday came to be.

                Mardi Gras first entered the Americas at the end of the 17th century. Before the French explorer and his crew founded New Orleans, Iberville camped beside a small bayou at the mouth of the Mississippi River. It happened to be Fat Tuesday, which in French is Mardi Gras, so he named the spot “Point du Mardi Gras and the Waterway.” Their celebration of March 3rd in 1699 marked the first Mardi Gras celebration in the New World. The different traditions of Mardi Gras also have early beginnings. Mardi Gras masking actually began many years before street parades in New Orleans, by celebrants at Bal Masques (masquerade ball) in the early 1800s. The Creole population loved masking as much as they did dancing; reveling at celebrations that eventually spilled into the city streets. “Throws” at Mardi Gras were a European carnival custom adopted around 1838 in New Orleans as costumed “maskers” – on foot and in carriages – playfully tossed bonbons, sugar-coated almonds, and other confections to ladies along their route. This eventually evolved to flour-filled packets that exploded upon contact with a person, but was banned when other dangerous items, like lye, were used instead of flour. Because the packets of flour were banned, they started throwing glass bead necklaces, which eventually became too expensive and therefore evolved into the cheap plastic necklaces.

                New Orleans’ first organized Mardi Gras parade, at 9 p.m., February 24, 1857, was the inspiration of six members of a Mobile New Years Eve parade group called “The Cowbellians,” who changed the French Creole Carnival celebration forever. Joined by 52 locals, most of who were on foot, they paraded as “The Mistick Krewe of Comus” with two decorated floats lighted by Flambeaus. People enjoyed the idea of “floats” so much that the following year there were thirty floats in the parade. Later, the Krewe of Rex was formed in 1872 by businessmen wishing to honor a visit by Russia’s Grand Duke Alexis on Mardi Gras. The King of Carnival’s humor and flair were instantly popular, creating a legal half-holiday and the traditional colors of Mardi Gras as purple for Justice, green for Faith, and gold for Power. Krewe Rex gave Mardi Gras its official colors, song, flag, and first day parade. 1894 saw the creation of the first black carnival club, The Original Illinois Club, in New Orleans. However, it was a later Afro-American club, Zulu, that paraded first in 1909, who poked fun at the pomp and circumstances of the old Mardi Gras krewes. The unique Zulu coconut throw is a sought-after carnival treasure, though they do not throw the coconut and instead hand it out. Louis Armstrong was honored in his hometown as King Zulu in 1949.

                After the movie, Brooke brought out another tradition that goes with the Mardi Gras season. Starting as early as January 6, (the last of the 12 days of Christmas), locals invite neighbors, friends, and coworkers to King Cake parties. The King Cake is in the shape of a huge donut, with a cinnamon swirl center and coated in frosting and green, purple, and gold sprinkles on the outside. Cooked inside of the cake is a tiny plastic baby and whoever gets the plastic baby has to host the next King Cake party. It used to be a bean or gold bead and if you found it you were the King of the party, but it evolved into a porcelain baby and now a plastic baby. Brooke handed out some slices of King Cake and though I did not personally try it, my family informed me that it tasted much like frosting-coated coffee cake. No one got the baby though, so we were spared the continuance of the tradition.

                Brooke told us to put on our layers in preparation for the main event, as we headed into the warehouse. It is the same temperature in the warehouse as outside, minus the wind, but Brooke did say that sometimes when it rains outside; it rains inside the warehouse as well. So, bundled up, we entered the HUGE warehouse. It was somewhat loud inside, what with drills and chainsaws at work, but once equipped with a microphone, Brooke led us through bravely. We stopped first where an artist was putting a thin layer of paper Mache on two carefully carved Styrofoam figures doing the Can-Can. Brooke showed us a carefully drawn sketch of what the final float will look like. None of the floats are city sponsored; all of them are sponsored by krewes, or social clubs. The krewes tell the artist what the theme for their parade is, the artist will sketch out a design, the krewes approve, and then the very talented artists create. The krewes usually try to use their old floats over again in order to save money, as starting a float from scratch is quite expensive.

                If a krewe wants a brand new float, the process goes something like this. The base of the float is a skeletal steel structure set on solid rubber tires, as no one wants a flat in the middle of a parade. Then the wooden structure is built around the metal supports. Most floats have an upstairs and a downstairs. Each float also has a bathroom as the parades can sometimes last five hours and often the participants are drinking heavily. Fitted on to the wooden structure are big hooks to hold the necklaces to be thrown. Then the structure is covered with stretched cotton fabric. This allows the float to be painted in whatever background is decided upon by the krewe. Then the Styrofoam forms are added on as well as other structures, everything is painted, strung with lights and it is set to go.  

                Brooke showed us just a portion of the enormous warehouse and when she told us that this was just one of 20 warehouses scattered throughout New Orleans, we all just stood dumbfounded. This warehouse is where most of the carving of the Styrofoam figures on the floats, as well as the assembling of the floats takes place. The floor was covered in shaven Styrofoam and puddles. Figurines of jesters, heads of celebrities and political figures, instruments, Indians, buildings, mythical Greek and Roman figures, snakes, monkeys, horses, kings, queens, bacon and eggs, frogs eating flies, gingerbread men, King Kong, Queen Kong, Baby Kong, a giant Tiffany lamp, totem poles, refrigerators, stop lights, giant bath tubs, flowers, dragons, cows, Saints fans, octopi, fish, manta rays, fountains, birds, suns, and moons. And it goes on and on and on.

                Caitlin’s and my favorite float was a gigantic bath tub with bubbles as big as my head decorating the rim. A ladies’ association owns this float and throws one of the most coveted throws of all Mardi Gras parades - red bead necklaces with red high heels and lights that flash. Since this float is actually hollow like a tub, the crowd likes to throw necklaces back at the float. It is said this is the only float that never runs out of throws. We got to come right up to the float and saw the rows and rows of hooks where the krewe hangs the throws, so that they don’t run out of goodies by the end.

                Another favorite of the floats was a very long train. Now, the limit for the number of floats per parade is usually around 30, but the numbers change with the year and parade. So, in order to get as long of a parade as possible, the krewes sometimes scoot around the rules. Because the train is all attached to one tractor, it counts as one float and thus is the longest float in the world. Mom liked all of the floats with flowers. And they were pretty amazing. Abby could probably sleep in some of them. From far away they look so beautiful and they all look mostly the same, but when you get up close, you realize that these flowers did not go through the copy machine and were each hand made uniquely and entirely different. Abby’s favorite float was the Baby Kong float. This float’s traditional throw is bananas and is actually one of the only floats allowed to throw food. Daddy’s favorite was the Super Bowl float. As you probably know, the Saints, which is the New Orleans football team won the Super Bowl last year and so they picked Drew Brees, the Saints’ quarterback, to be the King of Bacchus Krewe. The Bacchus krewe always picks a celebrity to be their King, but Drew Brees wouldn’t accept unless the entire football team got to ride with him as well as his family and close friends. So, they built an entirely new float in just seven days! Ben’s favorite came a little later.

                We finished our tour and walked back into the gift shop. Brooke had told us that we could go back into the theatre to try on some Mardi Gras costumes there, so we went back and took pictures all together there, in some very fun and funky clothes. Caitlin already has some crazy outfit ideas from this.          The very colorful Mardi Gras World shuttle was waiting outside the door for us to drop us off wherever it was most convenient. On the way out, Ben noticed something that we had missed when we first entered the building. A giant alligator lay looming above the walkway. Its mouth was so big that they had to put netting up there so birds wouldn’t fly in and roost. It was very impressive and if you stood at an angle you could see were its tail curved and then disappeared. We rode the shuttle as far as it would go and got off near a tourist information stop. After asking where the nearest food court was, we walked down a few blocks and stopped for lunch. There were booths with tall chairs in a wide circle around pillars covered with mirrors. So, since it would be very frustrating to not be able to see each other because of this inconvenience, the four kids sat at one of these booths and the parents sat at one of those boring tables that you see everywhere around the world.

                After we completed lunch, we walked over to New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park where another jazz performance was to take place. This was when the disappointments started to pile on. When we arrived, we found that it was closed. There was a small crowd waiting with us and some people that came regularly told us that they were always on time. Daddy called the office, but there was no answer. After waiting for a while, we decided to walk to the Armstrong Jazz Park which was nearby, but found that it was also closed. So, we went to the St. Louis Cemetery Number One, which was one of many graveyards containing above ground graves, but we found that it closed at three o’clock and it was 5 minutes after three, so then we walked to a nearby Catholic church and Daddy called a cab.

                We waited for a little while and a small cab pulled up. Daddy inquired and the driver said there was another small cab coming. Daddy said he asked for a van cab, so the driver called and said a van was on the way. While we waited we figured that it would have cost us twice as much to split up and go into two cabs. A van pulled up only a while later and so we road home … in total silence. I don’t know what it is with these cab drivers, but they don’t say much more than “Where?” and “Thank you” and “You’re Welcome,” even when you try to start a conversation. Well, when we got home we relaxed the rest of the afternoon away, reading, blogging, editing pictures, doing math with Daddy, and then eating dinner. After dinner we watched Brother Son, Sister Moon, the story of St. Francis that takes place in Assisi, Italy (where we will be visiting). We went to bed a little late and soon entered the world of unconscious bliss, with dreams of jazz and trains going by and airplanes flying overhead. Mom thinks we seem to find trains and airplanes wherever we stay.