“No one in Virginia will understand this unless they see it”
--quote from my sister, Susan Brooks, during her 2019 Mardi
Gras visit
I’m
originally from Virginia, and I moved to Louisiana without knowing any details
about Mardi Gras. I’d heard about New
Orleans Mardi Gras debauchery on Bourbon Street, and that was my only mental
picture. I’ve lived in Shreveport for
over 35 years now, and I’ve learned a bit about Mardi Gras in Northwest
Louisiana.
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| Mardi Gras Queen (banner Ricky ordered and hung at our house) |
As my reign
as Mardi Gras queen of the Krewe of Highland ends on October 18, I’m going to
share some of my Mardi Gras experiences.
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| Parade Day |
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| Krewe of Highland XXIV on float (Copyright, Henrietta Wildsmith, photographer) |
What is a
krewe?
For readers
who don’t live in Mardi Gras land, in Louisiana a krewe is a group of people,
usually a non-profit organization, that stages events or hosts a parade during
carnival season. Carnival, or Mardi
Gras, season is pre-Lent and begins on Twelfth Night, January 6. In the Christian tradition, January 6 marks
the Feast of the Epiphany when the Three Wise Men visited the Christ Child. Mardi Gras culminates on Mardi Gras day, or
Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday in the Advent calendar.
Sometimes
krewe members share common interests or vocations, e.g. in Shreveport, the
Krewe of Justinian is comprised of lawyers.
The Krewe of Highland is a neighborhood krewe, associated with the
historic neighborhoods of Highland and South Highlands. Our parade rolls on the
Sunday afternoon before Fat Tuesday and traverses neighborhood streets. The parade lasts about two hours from start
to finish and passes close to my house, so every year we have a large party and
invite all our friends and family who aren’t fortunate enough to live on the
parade route. Last year, the party went
on without me because I rode in the parade.
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| My beads are loaded on the float, the rain has stopped, we are ready to roll |
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| Crowd waiting on the parade at our street in previous years |
January 6th
is a busy day for Shreveport Mardi Gras royalty. It begins with a Mardi Gras mass at St. Pius
Catholic Church. At mid-day, there’s a
luncheon sponsored by Loblolly, a social service group associated with Mardi
Gras. Food, music, and an auction raise
money for Loblolly to continue their work in area schools. Later, the evening of 12th Night,
a big party with all the Mardi Gras krewes kicks off the Mardi Gras social
season. Each krewe decorates their
tables, brings food, and socializes with one another or dances to the music of
a band. The krewes take turns organizing
this annual event.
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| Royals at Twelfth Night |
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| Medallion from 2019 Mardi Gras mass |
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| Twelfth Night party |
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| 12th Night Decoration |
“Throw me
something, mister!”
Many krewes
serve a social purpose, while also performing social service. During the season, krewe members are frequent
guests at schools and senior citizen facilities, where they lead mini-parades
complete with Mardi Gras music and inexpensive beads that are thrown or passed
out to viewers whose shouts of “Throw Me Something, Mister” are synonymous with
Mardi Gras.
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| Visit to elementary school Loblolly event |
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| Child at Early Head Start center parade |
Mardi Gras colors are
purple, green, and gold, but beads come in every color of the rainbow, often
featuring some sort of cheap medallion.
Each krewe, or individual member of the royal court, also has a
specialty bead with a medallion that depicts that year’s theme for the krewe’s
coronation and bal. Some royalty have an
individual specialty bead. 
One older
woman at a nursing home where the nursing administrator invited our Krewe of
Highland to parade through the halls and visit residents in their rooms was not
exactly welcoming. When the other
“royals” and I entered the woman’s room, she told us, “Get out, you’re crazy,” and
she kept repeating this. I was the last
person to leave and I turned and said to her, “We may be crazy, but it’s in a
good way.” She laughed.
What the
heck is a trash jacket and why would you want to wear one?
When krewes
attend public events, they wear “trash” jackets. These are usually tuxedo jackets, embellished
with the krewe’s logo embroidered on the back and festooned with inexpensive
costume jewelry brooches and sewn-on patches that have meaning for the
individual. Each “trash” jacket is
unique and a little bit crazy.
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| Front of Queenie's trash jacket |
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| Back of trash jacket |
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| Trash jacket detail |
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| Queen Teresa & Duchess Sheila visit Early Head Start |
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| Trash jackets at Women's Department Club luncheon |
During this
year’s Mardi Gras mass, the priest said it made him happy to look out into the
congregation at the sea of individuals wearing trash jackets representing all
the different krewes. It’s fair to point
out that the Roman Catholic traditions of Mardi Gras practiced in South
Louisiana are often lost on the staunch Baptists prevalent in Northwest
Louisiana. I’m not Catholic (nor
Baptist), but I found the Mardi Gras mass to be moving and uplifting. After mass, a family in the church treated
everyone to king cake and coffee in the rectory hall.
Where’s
the baby?
King cakes
are also a Mardi Gras tradition. They
are most often made from sweet yeast dough, rolled out to make a long piece of
dough. A filling is spread on the dough
and the dough is rolled up, with the filling inside the elongated piece of
dough. Next, the dough is shaped into a
round ring, leaving a hole in the middle.
Then the cake is baked and iced, usually with a simple confectionery
sugar icing, and sprinkled with purple, green and yellow sugar. There are dozens of types of King Cakes, and
not all of them are sweet, but common King Cake flavors include apple, cream
cheese, praline, chocolate, cinnamon, strawberry and cream, blueberry and
cream, and Bavarian cream.
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| King Cake party--Vote for your favorite king cake!! |
King cakes
get their name from the small plastic baby, which is hidden inside each cake. The baby represents the Christ child. The person who finds the baby in the king
cake is responsible for bringing the king cake next Mardi Gras. These small plastic babies are definitely a
choking hazard, so the uninitiated must be warned about the babies. Some bakeries place the baby on top, leaving
it up to the buyer whether to place the baby inside the cake.
What’s in
a name?
Every krewe
has a king and queen and a royal court.
The court members have imaginative names. For most of the krewes, the titles associated
with their royal court remain the same from year to year, e.g.-- Duke and
Duchess of Merriment, Duke and Duchess of Mystery, Duke and Duchess of Food,
Duke and Duchess of Frolic, Duke and Duchess of Delight, Duke and Duchess of
Deliciousness, Duke and Duchess of Harvest, Duke and Duchess of Spring, Duke
and Duchess of Hospitality, Duke and Duchess of Mayhem. The Krewe of Sobek has the Keeper of Earth, Keeper
of Water, Keeper of Fire, and Keeper of Wind.
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| Presenting the 2020 Queen of Krewe of Sobek! |
Some krewes
have a theme. The Krewe of Excellence
has the Duke and Duchess of Perfection and the Duke and Duchess of Superiority,
while the Krewe of Elders has the Duke and Duchess of Wisdom and the Duke and
Duchess of Longevity. The Krewe of
Gemini, the first krewe formed during the modern Mardi Gras era in northwest
Louisiana, focuses on Shreveport’s geographic location in the Arklatex. They have the Duke and Duchess of Texas, Duke
and Duchess of Arkansas, and a Duke and Duchess of Louisiana. There’s also a Duke and Duchess of Furry
Friends, a Duke and Duchess of Rescue, and the Duke and Duchess of Pet
Education—guess what krewe this is? Barkus and Meoux, of course.
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| Royalty, Krewe of Highland XXIV Copyright Lara Leroux Photography (Amanda Nicole Lara, photographer) |
You can’t
have royalty without a coronation
Every krewe has an annual coronation during which their king,
queen, and royal court are announced.
These are usually themed parties held on a weekend night, and the attire
ranges from Mardi Gras casual--wear Mardi Gras colors and trash jackets unless
it’s 100 degrees outside. This is when
you can bring those light-up shoes and rhinestone shirts out of the closet. Other coronations may suggest cocktail or
formal attire. I now own five long
formals, two pair of piazza pants, and two cocktail dresses—not to mention the
costumes required by the Krewe of Highland! You can see some of the gowns of the queens below:
The Krewe of Highland coronations and bals are always
costumed events that match the theme.
Our 2018 coronation theme was “Under the Big Top: Amazing Highland Oddities & Attractions.” To see more about the Krewe of Highland
coronation and events happening about this same time last year, click here and
scroll toward the end of the post. When
you see several pictures of a woman wearing more leopard print than seems
possible, you’ve found it.
In order to enjoy Mardi Gras, you can't take yourself too seriously. If it's not fun, don't do it!
Stay tuned for
more retrospective posts about my reign as Queen XXIV, Krewe of Highland, and
the upcoming coronation of the next queen and events marking the 25-year anniversary
of our neighborhood krewe.
