New Orleans - Mardi Gras!

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Well you all thought I had thrown a lot of photos at you the last couple of times? Be prepared for a major photo overload!!



There is nothing quite like New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Already a city that beats to it's own drum they really let loose during Mardi Gras. The tourists flock to the business district and down town and the locals decorate their houses and balcony's in the official mardi gras colours of green, purple and gold/yellow. Walking up the street you will see dogs wearing tutu's people dressed up as all kind of characters - wigs, glitter and sequins really get a work out!! There are parades through Canal Street every day and it is easy to be overwhelmed with them so it is best to pick the ones you want to go to and keep it to tat (it is a marathon not a race!!) Getting down Bourbon street becomes harder and harder the closer you get to Fat Tueday (the final day of Mardi Gras)...so I will slow down and head back to where I had last left you.



I had seen my first parade and caught my first throws of the season - I had a Hurricane out of a boot and was ready to see what was to come next. The next night I headed out again and saw the parades. I saw the Muses, an all female parade and managed to catch myself a shoe - yes they are known for throwing decorated shoes from the float - as expected it is covered in glitter and sparkly beads- I'd expect nothing less from New Orleans! Every day the parades get longer and more intricate and the throws get better - I scored a few big beads and got some good souvenirs and gifts for people (be assured I hand picked each bead for each individual!!) The parades range from 25 to 50 floats and with the larger parades each float could be 5 trailers long and two levels on each trailer...so a lot of opportunity for catching beads! The floats range from funny to political to just plain pretty - the the costumes are extreme with large feather head dresses and sequins galore!!! Between each float there is a marching band from a local school and dancing troupes including flag wavers and tappers and dancers and cheerleaders - great entertainment for everyone. To make sure you see the musicians play it is best to hang around the mayors office, because they make sure they play for him, but there are a lot of stands and HEAPS of people here so I tended to go a bit further away and just hope they play on their way past! The crowds get bigger and bigger as the weeks go on, I became an expert at working my way down to the front of the crowd to get the best throws...what can I say? It's a gift!! At the end of the parade the streets were littered with missed beads and plastic wrappers but by the morning the streets were pristine!



Bourbon street was full of revelers for 24 hours a day - no matter what time of day or night you walked the streets there were people out there drinking and people on balconies throwing beads down to the crowd. Some of the female visitors would flash their chest for beads but as I told my friends, it would have to be a diamond and gold necklace worth millions for me to consider handing over my dignity for...so a set of plastic beads worth a couple of cents just wasn't worth it!! They still threw beads down at me tho! In fact I saw some females flash at parades in the middle of the day to get beads!! Oh my goodness, avert your eyes children!!!! So gents (and ladies) if you are going to Mardi Gras weekend - hire yourself a balcony on Bourbon Street - go to the parade during the day and stock up on beads - then get yourself some free entertainment by throwing beads at the crowd - I'm sure you will love it!



The streets were full of tourists for the whole week - and parade after parade after parade - I would get myself a beer in a paper bag and watch a parade, get some beads and other throws then eat red beans and rice and call myself a New Orlenian!!



I am staying with a lovely family and the mother Jocelyn is the daughter of the man who created the Mardi Gras Krewe the ZULU's and I went to see a display on the history of the Zulus with her (as you can expect I've attached some photos of that!!). Back in the 30's when the Zulus were created the black Community were unable to cross Canal Street and missed out on most of the parades and were most definitely not allowed to partake in the parade - So a brave few (Jocelyn's father leading them) created the krewe of Zulus to parade for the black community and only blacks could take part in the parade. They painted their faces in black face and wore grass skirts they made themselves - they hand painted coconuts and handed them out to the crowd as a parody (which Nola is known for really). To this day they still wear black face and skirts and hand out coconuts (tho they hand out face coconuts to the downtown area and the real coconuts are saved for the Treme...more on that in a minute)



The Zulus were allowed to parade early in the morning because the whites didn't think anyone would be around to see them - more the fool them really since these parades move so slowly they ended up parading through the city at lunchtime and everyone saw them!! The tradition has continued - in the 60's legislation changed meaning the blacks could cross Canal Street however unfortunately to this day there are still some Krewes that refuse to allow blacks in their group and when it is forced upon them there is quite a controversy...yes racism is still alive and well in this world, it is not an issue only for the United States of America. Unfortunately I saw this first hand several times the one that hit the hardest was watching a white boy on his dads shoulders be handed 5 large throws of soft toys and beads and the black girl on her mums shoulders right next to him was given nothing...the poor girl didn't even get a small bead necklace...she got nothing! Unfortunately this isn't uncommon and almost expected by the community.



The Zulu Parade still parades through Downtown and into the Treme (a largely black suburb) and you can believe they save their best and most throws for the Treme portion of the parade. I was lucky enough to see the Zulu parade both in Downtown "tourist" area and in the Treme. What a different experience!! The downtown portion had barricades and stands and the number of throws from the floats were minimal...then we got to the Treme - I was one of only a handful of white people there. There were BBQ's running, drinks being poured, no barricades and dancing in the street - and my goodness the number of throws that were given out - it was a massive street party...and they were throwing out real coconuts here! - it was quite interesting when I was in the downtown area I heard a local white man tell tourists the Zulus only throw fake coconuts these days and he didn't believe me when I said they had both - to see the people downtown fighting over the fake coconuts then go to the Treme and see one person be handed at least 6 real ones makes you see the contrast! This is the only parade that goes through the Treme and with the other parades overlooking them it is fair enough they are wanting to look after their own. After the parade was finished the whole area turns into a major street party - as you walk up Claiborne Street the music changes from dance to RnB to rock to rap - BBQ's continue to run and people are greeting each other - often people come back from out of town for the day so it is like one large reunion. And the ladies danced - my goodness how they dance...impressive and not something I would attempt...they had moves to make your mother blush! A vast difference to the Downtown experience and I would only recommend going if you know someone to go with you - as they said once the sun goes down it doesn't take long for them to start "popping"...be assured we left long before dark so only saw the party at it's best.



As we went up the street we ran into some Indians - how beautiful they were! - the indians traditionally march on Fat Tuesday and spend the whole year creating their outfits by hand, the beading was so intricate! It is a pity I didn't get to see more but I was lucky to see what I did. They have already started making their outfits for next year...so dedicated.



All in all it has been an amazing experience and one that I recommend everyone to come and see at least once. I have been blessed with good friends here who have shown me both sides of the city they love. And today, the day after Fat Tuesday, there are a lot of sore heads walking the streets and the city has returned to it's rhythm. I sat in the sun by the river then wandered through St Louis Cathedral - surprisingly there weren't many people confessing sins after last night - perhaps they need to get over their hangovers first?!?! On the way to the coffee shop I am sitting in I passed a trumpet player practicing, three fortunetellers, numerous artists hawking their wares, an opera singer on a bicycle and a tap dancer providing percussion to a street band - doesn't get much more NOLA than that!!



So I'm here for one more week to see the city as it usually is, getting ready for the next influx of weekend tourists - now to decide what bar I will be spending my birthday at. Hope you like the photos all, some are out of focus but I was a bit distracted trying to get beads so the phone/camera wasn't held very steady!!

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Photos

My haul
Now how do I get this home?!?!