The History of Mardi Gras
By William E. Males
Photos Courtesy Erin Morris and William E. Males
It is that time when coastal cities along the gulf are celebrating their Mardi Gas, from Tampa Bay’s Gasparilla to Galveston’s Mardi Gras - with more Krewes than you can know celebrating their Krewe of Who as a catch all - to Mobile’s Krewe De La Dauphine, and Panama City Beach’s Krewe of Dominique Youx. What used to be just a day of over eating and drinking in anticipation of Lent’s mandatory time of fasting and discipline has now become the focus of hundreds of thousands to just cut loose and over-indulge in weeks of revelry and partying. The elaborate elections of Krewe leaders, balls, parades, flotillas’ of pirate ships and more shiny color bead and plastic doubloons being tossed into excited crowds are more than you could imagine.
If you ever go looking for the significance of Mardi Gras celebration nowadays you will find that it doesn’t get any deeper than just having a whole lot of fun, good eating (usually Cajun cuisine), plenty of liquid libations, local economic stimulus and again, a lot more fun! With all that goes on in the everyday life throughout the rest of the year, Mardi Gras is a great escape into a faraway world of make believe where people dress up as Spaniard explorers, French renegades, rambunctious buccaneers and looting pirates. Everywhere you turn there is someone talking like a pirate with a hearty “Arrrrgg!”
Yet the history of Mardi Gras began long before anyone ever set sail for the New World. The ancient Romans celebrated a circus-like festival not entirely unlike the Mardi Gras, called Lupercalia, when many of the noble youths and of the magistrates would run through the city naked, laughingly striking those they met along the way with shaggy thongs. Many of the women would get in their way holding out their hands hoping to be struck, believing it would help the pregnant in delivery and those hoping soon to be pregnant. All this festivity was partly in honor of the she-wolf “Lupa” who suckled the infant orphaned twins.
However, when Rome embraced organized Christianity, the early state Church leaders decided it was wise to incorporate a few of the festive pagan rituals into the new believe-ism rather than require the mandatory converts to abandon them altogether. Therefore this festive “Carnival” became a time of casting off moderate expectations for the unrestrained revelry that preceded the Churches expected penance of Lent. The word “Carnival” comes from the Latin words “carne vale,” meaning "farewell to the flesh," when it is expected to give up earthly pleasures prior to the Lenten Season. Interesting how today it has become attributed to the traveling carnivals with their various food and rides.
Mardi Gras was faithfully celebrated as a major holiday in Paris since the Middle Ages, and it is commonly held that Mardi Gras came to Gulf Coast area way back in 1699 with the French explorer, Iberville. When Iberville sailed along the northern shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico, he launched an expedition up river when he came to the Mississippi River. It was there on the west bank of the river, about 60 miles south of where New Orleans is today, that he and his men set up camp and named the site “Point du Mardi Gras.” That was March 3, 1699; the same the date Mardi Gras had been celebrated back in France.
The festivities grew and by the early 1800's celebrators of Mardi Gras, dressed in costumes and mask, would fill the streets and public areas on foot while the more influent rode in decorated carriages and on horseback. Each year the participants would try and out do the previous year festivities until, with all the revelry and drinking, too many began to act up and take things too far. Things got so bad that Mardi Gras celebrations almost came to an end when aggressive behavior became the norm for too many intoxicated costume wearers, hiding their identity with masks, during the 1840's and 50's. Things deteriorated so much that soon there was a strong public outcry calling for an end to the celebration. This probably would have succeeded had it not been for six clever men from New Orleans.
These six men were transplants from Mobile, Alabama where they had formed a group known as the Cowbellians, whose name was attributed to the noise of cowbells and other noise makers used to create the festive atmosphere. To their credit, they had successfully organized an organization and had put on New Year's Eve parades in Mobile since 1831. In 1857 they literally saved Mardi Gras by forming a new society called “Comus,” which added structure and beauty by creating themes with lavishly decorated floats and costumed riders for Mardi Gras that transformed it into a safe and festive occurrence.
Comus was introduced to the public as “The Mystick Krewe of Comus,” and was the first group to use the term krewe to describe itself. Because of a secret meeting they had early January 1857, in the Gem Cafe on Royal Street, the Krewe of Comus is credited with starting the customs of having secret Carnival societies. Since then there have been many “secret societies” who met together to plan their participation in Mardi Gras all over the Gulf Coast. These Krewes are usually private groups whose membership is by invitation only and secretively meet to elect their annual king and queen with great festive ceremonial activities. Each Krewe then joins the local parades with a unifying theme with floats, and holds their celebratory balls after the parade carrying on the festivities sometimes for days afterwards.
Nowadays Mardi Gras’ everywhere have become another good reason for the communities to get together and celebrate the season and to boost the local economy by drawing visitors from afar off, anticipating a good time of family fun. With all the parade activities, food, costumes and beads, trinkets and plastic doubloons everyone goes away excited, full and with plenty souvenirs. So, if you missed Panama City Beach’s celebration of the Krewe of Dominique Youx, this year, then get out your calendars and planners to make a note not to miss the next one. We hope to see you there!
