Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Krewes and throws

The parades of New Orleans are staged by social clubs called krewes, most of which follow the same schedule and route every year. The oldest are the Mistick Krewe of Comus, Rex, the Knights of Momus and the Krewe of Proteus; today’s “super krewes” such as Endymion and Bacchus, and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, a predominantly African American krewe, stage some of the biggest parades. The major parades start in the Uptown and Mid-City districts and follow St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street. Riders on the floats toss “throws” to the crowd: strings of plastic beads, doubloons, decorated plastic cups and small toys. Alongside the parades runs a season of balls, many of them private. On the night of Mardi Gras the courts of Rex and Comus meet, bringing the day to a close.

Rex, King of Carnival

Many of Carnival’s symbols come from the Rex Organization, founded in 1872 and officially called the School of Design. Its colours of purple, green and gold have become the colours of Carnival — a parade of 1892 suggested they stood for justice, faith and power — and its anthem, “If Ever I Cease to Love”, has been played for Rex since the very first parade. Rex introduced the specially struck doubloons that are now a favourite throw. By tradition the King of Carnival arrives in the city by boat, now as part of Lundi Gras on the night before Mardi Gras, and one of the lead floats of his parade carries the boeuf gras, the fatted ox, a symbol of the last meat eaten before Lent.

From 1699 to today

The first record of Mardi Gras in Louisiana dates from 2 March 1699, when the French explorers Iberville and Bienville marked it at the mouth of the Mississippi. Masked processions in the streets of New Orleans were sometimes banned by law but always returned. In 1856, 21 businessmen founded the city’s first krewe, Comus, to celebrate Mardi Gras with a formal parade, and in 1875 Louisiana made Mardi Gras a legal state holiday. The City of New Orleans describes it as a religious holiday and a season of traditions, when the community comes together “in formal, fun, and often unexpected ways”.