The origins of
Mardi Gras can be traced to medieval Europe, passing through Rome and Venice in
the 17th and 18th centuries to the French House of the Bourbons. From here, the
traditional revelry of "Boeuf Gras," or fatted calf, followed France
to her colonies.
On March 2, 1699, French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur
de Bienville arrived at a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New
Orleans, and named it "Pointe du Mardi Gras" when his men realized it was the eve
of the festive holiday. Bienville also established "Fort Louis de la
Louisiane" (which is now Mobile) in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of
Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated America's very first Mardi Gras.
In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile),
similar to those that form our current Mardi Gras krewes. It lasted until 1709.
In 1710, the "Boeuf Gras Society" was formed and paraded from 1711
through 1861. The procession was held with a huge bull's head pushed alone on
wheels by 16 men. Later, Rex would parade with an actual bull, draped in
white and signaling the coming Lenten meat fast. This occurred on Fat Tuesday.
New Orleans was established in
1718 by Bienville. By the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New
Orleans, but not with the parades we know today. In the early 1740s,
Louisiana's governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, established elegant society
balls, which became the model for the New Orleans Mardi Gras balls of today.
The earliest reference to Mardi Gras "Carnival" appears in a
1781 report to the Spanish colonial governing body. That year, the Perseverance
Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association was the first of hundreds of clubs and
carnival organizations formed in New Orleans.
By the late 1830s, New Orleans held street processions of maskers with
carriages and horseback riders to celebrate Mardi Gras. Dazzling gaslight
torches, or "flambeaux,"
lit the way for the krewe's members and lent each event an exciting air of
romance and festivity. In 1856, six young Mobile natives formed the Mistick Krewe of Comus,
invoking John Milton's hero Comus to represent their organization. Comus
brought magic and mystery to New Orleans with dazzling floats (known as
tableaux cars) and masked balls. Krewe members remained anonymous, and to this
day, Comus still rides!
In 1870, Mardi Gras' second Krewe, the Twelfth Night Revelers, was
formed. This is also the first recorded account of Mardi Gras
"throws."
Newspapers began to announce Mardi Gras events in advance, and they even
printed "Carnival Edition" lithographs of parades' fantastic float
designs (after they rolled, of course - themes and floats were always carefully
guarded before the procession). At first, these reproductions were small, and
details could not be clearly seen. But beginning in 1886 with Proteus' parade
"Visions of Other Worlds," these chromolithographs could be produced
in full, saturated color, doing justice to the float and costume designs of Carlotta Bonnecase, Charles Briton and B.A. Wikstrom.
Each of these designers' work was brought to life by talented Parisian
paper-mache' artist Georges Soulie',
who for 40 years was responsible for creating all of Carnival's floats and
processional outfits.
1872 was the year that a group of businessmen invented a King of Carnival, Rex, to
preside over the first daytime parade. To honor the visiting Russian
Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff, the businessmen introduced Romanoff's family colors
of purple, green and gold as Carnival's official colors. Purple stands for
justice; gold for power; and green for faith. This was also the Mardi Gras
season that Carnival's improbable anthem, "If Ever I Cease to Love,"
was cemented, due in part to the Duke's fondness for the tune.
The following year, floats began to be constructed entirely in New
Orleans instead of France, culminating with Comus' magnificent "The
Missing Links to Darwin's Origin of Species," in which exotic paper-mache'
animal costumes served as the basis for Comus to mock both Darwin's theory and
local officials, including Governor Henry Warmoth. In 1875, Governor Warmoth
signed the "Mardi Gras Act," making Fat Tuesday a legal holiday
in Louisiana, which it still is.
Like Comus and the Twelfth Night Revelers, most Mardi Gras krewes today
developed from private social clubs with restrictive membership policies. Since
all of these parade organizations are completely funded by their members, New
Orleanians call it the "Greatest Free Show
on Earth!
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