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| | Mardi Gras |
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The History of Mardi Gras in New Orleans |
The History of Mardi Gras in New Orleans By most accounts it is believed that Mardi
Gras was first observed by masked balls and bawdy street processions in New Orleans
as early as the 1700s. For a brief period in the early 1800's balls were outlawed.
However, by most accounts this law was summarily ignored. In order to keep the Mardi
Gras Celebration under control the season was limited to January 1 through midnight
on Ash Wednesday. This was true until the mid 1800's when the season was lengthened
to November 1st. This was to allow for the coronation balls and court parties. Most
balls occur during the original Mardi Gras season in January. The first parades
did not occur until the late 1830's. The first official parading Krewe was the Mystic
Krewe of Comus.
Much of the pomp employed by the old Krewes come from the entertainment's planned
in 1872 when the Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff came to New Orleans at carnival
time in hot pursuit of actress Lydia Thompson. Forty businessmen got together and
founded the Krewe of Rex, mounting a daytime parade in the archduke's honor. The
city's upper-crust folks, always socially ambitious, decided to adopt the Romanoff
household colors-purple (signifying justice), green (faith), and gold (power) -
as the official Carnival colors. The local gentry also learned that the Grand Duke
Alexis's favorite song was a regrettable ditty called "If Ever I Cease To Love"
from the New York musical Bluebeard that starred Ms. Thompson. All these years later,
it remains the official song of Carnival.
Today Mardi Gras has gone somewhat commercial. Many of the Krewes, including Pegasus,
now have corporate floats. You would think that these companies that pay for entire
floats would fill the city with advertisements. However, they can not by city ordinance.
They simply come back year after year just for the fun that is Mardi Gras and the
enjoyment that they can pass on to their employees or clients.
Originally, the balls were held in the Municipal Auditorium or the Rivergate. The
Auditorium has since been renovated and the Rivergate torn down to make room for
a land based casino. Therefore, many of the Krewes have moved to Hotels in the downtown
New Orleans area for their ball celebrations. At first this was a huge change for
the members who were used to the atmosphere of The Auditorium. But now they have
become accustom to the ballrooms of the hotels and in most cases enjoy the change.
It allows out of town members to attend the ball and get special pricing on rooms,
reducing many of the headaches associated with out of town travel.
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