A few words before I begin the slideshow. The parade season begins a mere trickle, but by Mardi Gras weekend, it has become a deluge. There are near-continuous parades from Wednesday through Tuesday, and the St. Charles streetcar ceases to run. Along the parade route, locals leave tents, chairs, ladders, tables, and grills set up on prime property. The ladders, few and far between at first, are a forest by Saturday. Trees along the routes catch their share of beads, and slowly accumulate a flamboyant, plastic imitation of Spanish moss, which can be quite beautiful. No work is done starting the Friday before Mardi Gras. People take to wearing their beads all day, even when not at a parade. Alcohol sales (I assume) spike 500%.
And the parades only get bigger. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday see the so-called Superkrewes, Endymion, Bacchus, and Orpheus. They have over thirty floats and over 1000 riders each. They are each preceded by a plethora of smaller (by a little) Krewes, each notable in its own right.
My girlfriend and I went to see Endymion on Canal Street Saturday night, and it was fairly unpleasant, probably because we hadn't been drinking. My guest was also shorter than many, which adds another unpleasant dimension to watching floats and getting beads. We left early. Sunday, we watched Bacchus on St. Charles, and that was infinitely more pleasant, because we had a front-row spot, in the few feet between the foremost line of ladders and the street. I took a few pictures here, but it was dark. Monday, we saw the arrival-by-steamboat of the King of the Krewe of Rex ("King of Mardi Gras"), which is a very formal event. Laura Bush arrived with him, though I don't know why, because she wasn't in costume. We skipped Orpheus.
Most of the pictures below are from Tuesday, literal Mardi Gras. The Krewe of Zulu rolls very early, followed/met by Rex. We caught up with most of Rex by walking down St. Charles, and most of the pictures below are of that parade. (After Rex, I decided that I strongly prefer the daytime parades, not just for the superior lighting, but for the character of the crowd.) I have never been in a place quite like New Orleans as it is on Fat Tuesday.
Commence slideshow! [Because of I don't know why, the pictures do not fully fit into the narrow column of the blog, so click on them to see their full width. They're better than they seem here.]
The Charles route before Bacchus and (note the toilet paper) after Tucks (a particularly irreverent Krewe).
Flambeaus traditionally lit the nighttime floats, but continue to march in groups of ten today before and behind the first ten or so floats of the big Krewes. The carriers have always been the homeless or otherwise economically depressed, and are "tipped" by the crowd as they pass. Coins are aimed at the metal backs of the flambeaus, and dollars are handed directly.
The classic Bacchagator float. The crowd aims to ring beads around the teeth. You will see several other floats that are strung with beads as well.
The "I Love Lucy" float in Bacchus. Note the crowd.
Mardi Gras day, during a lull in Rex (as we caught up with it).
The Rex theme was "Tales of Fire and Flame," and thus featured pyrological myths from around the world. Note the tree.
Riders on horseback threw doubloons.
The Sumerian god of fire.
I suppose they couldn't have the Christian Devil in the parade, but I don't think the Greek Hades had much to do with fire.
These are works of art.
The St. Charles family-friendly Mardi Gras. These children were filling their wagon with beads, a veritable treasure chest!
From a different vantage point, this time on Napoleon Avenue, before we caught up with the beginning of the parade.
The fiddler! I like this one.
My girlfriend. As you can see, we collected many beads on Tuesday alone, and got that sweet parasol.
Post-parade flora.
Most of what I accumulated.
Don't forget to check out the links I added to Carnival Rolls On!
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