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New Orleans

Voices: What makes Mardi Gras special? 'It's awesome'

Rick Jervis
USA TODAY

NEW ORLEANS — What makes thousands of grown men and women cram together on sidewalks and scream maniacally for plastic trinkets? What makes revelers, year in and year out, become so giddy at the thought of King Cake and parades? After all these decades, what makes Mardi Gras so revered, so enduring, so important?

The writer's daughters, Elle, left, and Isla, vying for beads during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.

I wrestled with these questions for the six years I lived in New Orleans, even as I was swept into the fervor of Mardi Gras each year. I was based in New Orleans from 2007 to 2013, writing about the recovery of the city and region from Hurricane Katrina for USA TODAY.

Both of my daughters, Elle, 5; and Isla, 3, were born in New Orleans, just a few blocks from one of the main parade routes. We now live in Texas and this year, my wife, Elena, and I decided to take them to Mardi Gras, to have them experience their native-born tradition. Along the way, I hoped to find an answer or two to these nagging questions.

First, a small clarification: Mardi Gras is a day (Feb. 9 this year). Carnival is a season, or the three weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, typically filled with parades, concerts and parties, despite the fact that many locals will greet each other with “Happy Mardi Gras!” during this time.

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A rookie mistake is to engage in every party and parade during Carnival and not have enough left in the tank for Mardi Gras day. (Our first year in New Orleans, Elena and I had such a good time indulging in all the festivities leading up to Mardi Gras, we actually slept in on the big day, missing it entirely.)

The massive street party that sparks images of bare boobs and Bourbon Street revelry continues to draw more than 1 million visitors to the streets of New Orleans each year and injects more than $840 million into the local economy.

I knew next to nothing about Mardi Gras when I moved here, thinking it was mostly something college kids did and, often, later regretted. The truth is Mardi Gras mostly takes place in neighborhoods, such as Uptown, Mid-City and Treme, and consists of house parties and family reunions. There are crawfish boils, porches with beer kegs and Professor Longhair blasting from speakers.

A float rolls through New Orleans' Uptown neighborhood during one of several Mardi Gras parades.
Revelers angle for beads and trinkets during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans' Uptown neighborhood. Most of Mardi Gras' true celebrations take place in the city's neighborhoods.

In our first 48 hours here, we attended five house parties, saw four parades and ate more King Cake than I thought humanly possible. Not once did we set foot on Bourbon Street.

Many locals will say it’s tradition that makes Mardi Gras important, even though that tradition has not always been particularly savory. Imported by the city’s French settlers, Mardi Gras has been celebrated in New Orleans since the early 19th century. The first costumed “parade” on horseback occurred in 1837. But the celebrations were sharply segregated, prompting the city’s black residents to create their own celebration, Zulu, which today is one of the most popular parades.

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It took a city ordinance in 1992 to force the parade’s clubs, known as “krewes,” to open their membership to different races. (Three krewes canceled their parades in protest.) On Sunday, the krewe of Bacchus, created in 1969, paraded with its first-ever African-American “king” — actor Anthony Mackie, (8 Mile, The Hurt Locker, Notorious) who grew up in New Orleans.

But there’s the admirable tradition of krewes spending millions of dollars a year of their own membership dues to put on the spectacular parades — without any visible corporate sponsorship. (You won’t see a single “Budweiser” or “Papa John’s” sign on any floats.)

For others, celebrating Mardi Gras is reflexive, like seeking shelter or breathing.

“It’s genetically encoded in our DNA,” Arthur Hardy, Carnival historian and publisher of the Mardi Gras Guide, told me. “It’s how we show the world we’re still alive.”

Elle and Isla loved the parades, loved catching beads and bracelets and foam spears thrown from moving floats. But what truly made them giddy was running from one house party to the next, stuffing King Cake into their mouths and playing with friends they now call “cousins.”

Why is Mardi Gras so important? I asked Anson, the 9-year-old daughter of a friend and native New Orleanian.

“Because it’s awesome,” she said.

Indeed.

Happy Mardi Gras, y'all.

Jervis is USA TODAY's Austin-based correspondent.

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