HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

Grandpère et moi

At left, Tom and I from another year. We are quietly at home on the great day of revelry otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday.  Perhaps some folks around here will get shriven today, but my guess is not many.  They'll be too busy watching parades and partying. 

Look at that kick!

On Saturday, we reveled in Lockport, Louisiana, gathering at the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building for a party with lots of tasty food, a parade a block away, and good Cajun music.


On Sunday, at St John's Episcopal Church, we had our traditional pot luck lunch after the 10:30 service and then gathered outside to watch the parades.

The Prescriptions

This year, we had musical entertainment by The Prescriptions, a five-piece band, which plays "primarily music from the late sixties, seventies, and eighties" and perform very well, indeed.

Fr Ron on the harmonica

Fr Ron, an Episcopal priest who says he's retired but works as a consultant in the Episcopal Church and serves half-time as our priest-in-charge, is a member of the band and plays guitar (above on the right) and harmonica (on the left).  Ron works more than half-time for our church, because he's always there when we need him.

The rain that was predicted came once the parade started, and I decided to leave.  The stalwarts who stayed, including Grandpère, were rewarded, because the rain stopped as I was on my way home. 

Growing up in New Orleans, I saw enough parades to last more than one lifetime.  From my quiet place at home, I wish for all the revelers a great day and a safe day this Mardi Gras.  Laissez les bons temps rouler!  

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - ERROL LABORDE

Ash Wednesday resonates in New Orleans more than in most places because of the way we live the day before. There would be less purpose in saying “farewell to flesh” were we not previously so consumed by flesh of all forms.

Errol Laborde in New Orleans Magazine. 

Laborde's words made me smile, because they are so true.

THE REVELRY BEGINS WITH PHUNNY PHORTY PHELLOWS

 

The costumed and masked krewe assembled on Twelfth Night, January 6, 2012 (Sunday) at the Willow Street Car Barn (map) at 6:30pm. At 7pm sharp, the Phunny Phorty Phellows boarded the streetcar and began their ride to "Herarld the Arrival of Carnival" down the St. Charles Ave. Streetcar Line.

All were invited to come see the PPP off beginning at 6:30, when the group started to gather. Of course Storyville Stompers were there with us.

The Phellows are an historic Mardi Gras organization that first took to the streets 1878 through 1898. They were known for their satirical parades and today¹s krewe members’ costumes often reflect topical themes. The group was revived in 1981.

The people in New Orleans don't get a break between Christmas season and Carnival season.  The party goes on until Lent.  Where I live, we don't rush into Carnival partying as quickly, but the custom of sharing king cakes starts tomorrow.

LAST CALL FOR REVELRY!

King cake

Sazerac cocktail





Laissez les bons temps rouler aujourd'hui, Mardi Gras, mais pas demain, le mercredi des Cendres, ni pendant les quarante jours du carême.

(Excuse my French, and please correct me if I have it wrong.)

Sazerac photo from Wikipedia.

KREWE OF 'TIT R∃X PARADE

All right, you naughty-minded people, the name of the krewe is not Tit Rex, but 'tit Rex, short for petit, meaning little Rex, pronounced T-Rex. The krewe paraded in New Orleans on Saturday, with their floats made from shoe boxes. The big Krewe of Rex, which parades on Mardi Gras day, charged infringement, thus the reversed 'e' in the name, which I'm not able to type in lower case, because I cannot find a code. I hope big Rex doesn't sue me.

From NOLA.com:

The name ‘Tit Rex was a shortened form of Petit Rex and was pronounced like the dinosaur. In January the mini krewe announced that, though the pronunciation would remain the same, the name would be changed slightly by adding the phonetic symbol schwa (an inverted e) in place of the normal e in Rex. Though the name change may have avoided a legal showdown, it produced plentiful typographical troubles.

Indeed!

See the NOLA.com video of the wee parade below.



Adorable! My children, grandchildren, and I made shoe box floats for school parades, years ago for my children, and many years ago for me.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS PHOTO ESSAY

Today is Mardi Gras. Really! Mardi Gras was not last Tuesday, as in my erroneous post, which I quickly removed, but which stays in Google Reader probably forever. Tomorrow is really, really Ash Wednesday, and you will all need to get really, really serious about repentance of your wicked ways. But for one last day, you may revel in your naughtiness.

The pictures are from the Cleophas parade this past Sunday.



"Who Dat?" of course! - in honor of the New Orleans Saints football team. The National Football League has copyrighted the phrase, "Who Dat?" - as though they could.



Who dat wit' de umbrella? Dat's the rector's wife, dat's who. An' dat's her perch on de telephone box, an' nobody dare to steal her perch.



"We So Broke It's Whatever", to which a good many folks in the country can relate.



Over the hill and deep into the valley on the other side for me.



Thomas the Train, a really cute float. The picture doesn't do it justice.



Grandpère and the middle generation, my son and daughter-in-law.



The elder generation, who stay at home on Mardi Gras, but not on the Sunday before. It's raining here today. I hope it's not raining in New Orleans and in the other cities which have parades.

An' dat's dat, as dey say.

OF CARNIVAL AND KINGS AND CAKES

From History of the King Cake:

(The above link for the quote below went missing and is now dead. I can't find the source in a web search. Sorry.)

When Christianity extended its influence and began overshadowing the religions that came before it, many of the local customs were not outright abolished, but instead were incorporated into Christian tradition and given a new spin. This even happened to the tradition of Mardi Gras, and from what we have researched so far seems to be the case, but that's another story. Catholic priests were not predisposed to human sacrifice, so the King's Cake was converted into a celebration of the Magi, the three Kings who came to visit the Christ Child.

In 12th century France where the cake would be baked on the eve of January 6 to celebrate the visit to the Christ Child by the three Kings. A small token was hidden in the cake as a surprise for the finder.

French settlers brought the custom to Louisiana in the 18th century where it remained associated with the Epiphany until the 19th century when it became a more elaborate Mardi Gras custom. In New Orleans, the first cake of the season is served on January 6. A small ceramic figurine of a baby is hidden inside the cake, by tradition. However now, the tradition is giving way to the baby being supplied and the customer placing the baby were ever they wish in the cake. Whoever finds the baby is allowed to choose a mock court and host the next King Cake party the following week (weekly cake parties were held until Mardi Gras).

In 1870, the Twelfth Night Revelers held their ball, with a large king cake as the main attraction. Instead of choosing a sacred king to be sacrificed, the Twelfth Night Revelers used the bean in the cake to choose the queen of the ball. This tradition has carried on to this day, although the Twelfth Night Revelers now use a wooden replica of a large king cake. The ladies of the court pull open little drawers in the cake's lower layer which contain the silver and gold beans. Silver means you're on the court; gold is for the queen.

Jane R. at Acts of Hope posted a picture of the French version of the cake, la galette des rois, which looks delicious.

The king cake consists of coffeecake dough, which is then shaped into strips and twisted to form an oval or circle. The original king cakes were decorated with only granulated sugar dyed purple, gold, and green, the official colors of the New Orleans Carnival season. Today most king cakes are covered with icing of some sort, like the cake pictured above, with the dyed sugar topping the icing. Other present-day variations on the original include cakes with fillings of all sorts, from cream to fruit-flavored jelly and whatever else the bakers may dream up.

The funniest commentary I've ever read about a king cake is about the baby, which was once baked into the cake, but is now, for fear of litigation, placed somewhere in the package or box for the customer to place in the cake, thus making the customer liable, rather than the bakery or the market. Here's the link to the commentary by blondiusmaximus at Live Journal. I must warn you that the post is x-rated and forbidden to my readers under the age of 14. And no lying about your age!