Krewe du Vieux

Cowering over the heater in my room on this cold New Orleans night, I will recount the events of yesterday's colder counterpart, when I shivered with other hardy souls to see the floats of Krewe du Vieux roll, the first parade of Mardi Gras. Before I begin, I'd like to address the few of you who scoff at a Southern winter. It's true, in Chicago, I would have treated the arrival of a nearly forty-degree day at the end of January as a sure sign of spring and a reason not to wear my hat. But from the wrong side of zero degrees, any double-digit temperature looks alluring. Let me remind you, though, that it was seventy-five and sunny a week ago, and I was sweaty by the time I had biked to school. When the air started to threaten another freeze, the antics of the weather simply seemed cruel, and forty degrees was unbearable.

Bundled up, I took the bus to the French Quarter to meet a friend and find a good perspective along the parade route. We met at the famous Cafe du Monde for beignets first, and then passed thick crowds in the heart of the Quarter, headed for a more intermittently populated stretch of Royal St.

Krewe du Vieux is one of the smallest parades of the season, and probably the most rag-tag. As I have been told by several sources, the parades just get bigger. (The season actually begins with some kind of colorfully trimmed streetcar, laden with a small krewe of harbingers--I never saw this.) This krewe is composed of twenty or so subkrewes, so the parade took the form of twenty or so floats, each followed by its creators and a second-line band. The subkrewes were rather spaced out along the route. This parade is acknowledged as the raunchiest as well, both the most brazen in its satire and boldest in its imagery. The theme of Krewe du Vieux was "Fired Up!" so each subkrewe incorporated fire into its float.

I don't remember them all clearly, and some of them were subtle in their meaning or perhaps meaningless. (Oh, and of course I forgot my camera.) There were several aimed at outgoing mayor Ray Nagin, several uplifting the Saints and putting down their defeated playoff opponents and their upcoming Super Bowl challengers, the Indy Colts. The remainder were sexual in theme, not without intermixed politics or sports also. Most were horse- or mule-drawn. (That's a big difference from the later parades, which floats I'm told are far, far too large to be pulled by even a team of horses.)

The subkrewe members, dressed in costumes matching their float's theme, danced and tripped down Royal St. behind their creations, throwing and handing out trinkets. Some had stickers bearing the Krewe or subkrewe name, or various provocative items appropriate for their float. All had beads, of course, and plastic Krewe cups (a very common item for all Krewes), and doubloons, or wooden circles, the size of a large coin, bearing the Krewe du Vieux logo and the year and theme. on the reverse. The metal versions of these are highly prized among Mardi Gras goers. I came away with two wooden doubloons, one string of beads, a small, unmarked (what I take to be) doubloon in a paper envelope bearing the name "krewe of bananas," a ribbon of three condoms, and a matchbook and cigarette papers both from the "krewe of T.O.K.I.N.," which I believe is an empty acronym, alluding of course to drugs. I assume, though perhaps wrongly, that with the bigger parades come more dignified "throws." I have read that some of the krewe-labeled items are, like the doubloons, very highly prized and limited in quantity, for instance the painted coconuts distributed by the Krewe of Zulu (though I also hear there is a new law against those being thrown from the floats).

The bands following these were sometimes rag-tag in uniform, but never in rhythm, and I wish they would have marched more slowly for my prolonged enjoyment. If you click on the link in my last post, you might get a taste of the music down here. It's HOT.

Once the parade ended (Note: Krewe du Vieux was followed by a new krewe this year, Krewedillusion, but I couldn't have told you where one stopped and the other started.), we walked around the Quarter a bit and I watched as the energy of the parade-watchers was diverted into the streets and into the bars. Most everyone was by now wearing beads.

My first taste of Mardi Gras was really something. The bigger parades start next weekend, and coincide with the Super Bowl. I can't imagine that combination being a dud. Then Thursday of the following week, Mardi Gras proper begins and lasts until the day itself. Thank goodness school takes a holiday on the day before and the day of Fat Tuesday. I'll be exhausted!