Lessons From My First Mardi Gras
Outside of New Orleans, Mardis Gras is perceived by most as a time of debauchery, gluttony and a poisonous materialism. This image certainly reflects what I expected this past month to be prior to arriving here. Yet recent experience has convinced me that this is a rather inaccurate depiction of a very complex tradition. The aforementioned hedonism exists on one street and primarily in the lives of tourists who perpetuate a self-fulfilled prophecy that has little to do with the spirit of this city. Rather, throughout the season, all over New Orleans, there was something much deeper happening; something palpable that I would argue turned most Mardi Gras myths on their heads.
Current Corps Members festooned in Mardi Gras beads.
The party started a little early this year when the New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl in 43 years. Unique hints of this city’s beauty emerged in the pure joy every New Orleanian experienced and shared with each other. Rather than burn cars and initiate riots, everyone high-fived anyone in sight, honked their horns in elation and second-lined down the streets. And soon after watching one of the best games of football I have ever seen, on a plane with twenty exuberant natives who came together to cheer on the Saints while suppressing a deep frustration with their lack of foresight (who books a flight during the Super Bowl when your team is undefeated? Thankfully Jet Blue is tech savvy and we were able to watch the game), it was clear that the party was only getting started.
"While the wastefulness of this season is grossly apparent in the countless resources exhausted on crap...this season is not simply about consumption."
As my housemates, some other friends and I stood in the cold for hours at the Saints parade two days later, we were warmed by the presence of 800,000 others (which is pretty impressive since New Orleans proper has around 300,000 residents) who lined the streets of the whole city to celebrate with one another and express a deep gratitude. For hours, ecstatic Saints riding on floats from upcoming Mardi Gras parades shared their joy and accomplishment with all of us, throwing beads at onlookers and dancing to the musics of local brass bands. During the few week long Mardi Gras celebration, the Saints players and the Super Bowl trophy became staples and the scale of their victory started to sink in. While I have become skeptical of how sports impact our culture in recent years, I think that these athletes understood the magnitude of their collective victory and could admit the humility of their role in bringing joy to a city that both desperately needs it and knows exactly how to cultivate it. This win did not signify the successful rebuilding of New Orleans as some have ignorantly suggested, but it did give a forgotten population something to feel proud of and a chance to show the rest of the country how to throw a good party.
And the partying certainly continued. The next two weeks were filled with countless parades that showcased beautiful floats and costumes, fun music, hilarious, offensive satire, and the most ridiculous amount of plastic beads you will ever see. The city transformed to accommodate the celebration. Homes were beautifully adorned with green, purple and gold decorations, every business sign bestowed festive wishes upon passer-bys, for days the streets that served as routes were lined with fold-up chairs and decorated ladders that saved trusting natives’ excellent spots for the festivities, the trees began to shimmer with necklaces that never made it down to the masses and the majority of organizations and offices shut down so everyone could enjoy the party (and because it was simply impossible to get anywhere). All of New Orleans became committed to elevating this two week period into something beautiful, I would even venture to say, something sacred.
Amidst all of the happiness and unity entwined with Mardi Gras, it is not difficult to simultaneously find glaring problems. For one, it produces an immense amount of garbage (after committing ourselves to the acquisition of as many shiny necklaces and plush animals as we could get our hands on, my housemates and I now have many bags of useless junk, which two weeks ago we may have deemed a chest of valuable treasures). Yet, while the wastefulness of this season is grossly apparent in the countless resources exhausted on crap and in the twinkling, littered streets that take hours, sometimes days, to clean after each parade, this season is not simply about consumption. Yes, all of the aforementioned concerns are significant and problematic, but there is also something to be learned from the parade participants who spend thousands of dollars each year to buy their throws (technical term for all the Mardi Gras give-a-ways) only to give it all away and offer parade-goers small moments of fulfillment.
Mardi Gras reveals the many extremes of this city. It demonstrates the unity, the beauty and the joy, yet simultaneously the waste, inefficiency and inequality. While everyone is celebrating, every office seems to shut down which yields little productivity over a two week span; while the parades are attended by all kinds of people, they simultaneously reinforce inequalities as most of the krewe members (the groups that make the floats and ride in the parades) and participants are white while many black homeless people are paid to hold torches to bring light and heat to those present; while all attendees leaves with bags of throws, jail inmates, decked out in orange jumpsuits are called upon to clean up the streets for all to uncomfortably witness.
There is a great deal of both beauty and ugliness in this time, a juxtaposition lost in the widespread one-dimensional depiction of Mardi Gras. Yes, this is a time in which normative behavior, functionality and responsibility are suppressed, but it is done with careful intent and significant meaning. It is a time that challenges the status quo of New Orleans that so often seems depressing and stagnant. And since the ugliness sometimes seems too permanent to break, the very presence of beauty makes Mardis Gras so worthwhile. The glaring flaws of this time, of this city should not be discounted; but maybe the bits of light that emerge are the only way to stomach the darkness. Afterall this city makes it quite clear that utopia is just not feasible. Yet, my first Mardi Gras experience has taught me that this holiday is not supposed to offer a pure utopia. Rather, it is a season that acknowledges the tensions it produces and deems it possible to exist within them, deems it acceptable to extract joy amidst the many problems that plague New Orleans. Ultimately, for me, Mardi Gras highlights the importance of isolated moments like this, when we can bury the darkness in the back of our minds, immerse ourselves in beauty and party together until dawn.
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Becca Waxman said:
I admire how thoughtful you are in reflecting after this seemingly insane Super Bowl/Mardi Gras season. It’s so easy to jump right back into life as it was pre-Mardi Gras after the last parade finishes its route and the city’s population shrinks back to whatever the current population count is. Your reflections capture so much of how I felt this past month, whether I was excitedly walking to another parade, or dragging behind a sea of purple, gold and green, for yet, another display of this city’s and country’s hi’s and low’s. Thanks for taking this time to pause, and contemplate a season of the year, that after my own thinking, I may be able to consider sacred, just as you.
Laurie said:
As a native Louisianian who never missed a Mardi Gras from age 1-18 (and an AVODAH alum), I am really happy to read this thoughtful, honest post about one of my sacred seasons.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and observations from an outsider’s perspective. I am glad you understand the true magic of Mardi Gras, and that you also aren’t afraid to call out its transgressions.