1. 1. Humanities 1301, Event Presentation. By: Angela Rudolph
2. 2. Description: The website boasted: Mardi Gras 2015 is Tuesday, February 17th. We're counting down the minutes. Mardi Gras New Orleans introduces you to the major participants of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, provides updated parade information and parade routes, the truth about our Mardi Gras history and traditions, helpful Mardi Gras tips, information on the different krewes and balls, Mardi Gras pictures & videos, the best places to get your Mardi Gras beads, masks, costumes, and delicious king cakes... and much more! Save the date: Mardi Gras 2016 is Tuesday, February 9th. (http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/). The excitement builds all year long. The artists are many, masked, unmasked, in the parade, around you, next to you. Mardi Gras is about everything you experience while in New Orleans during this celebration. Its like youre not only seeing the play, youre a part of it. (http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/)
3. 3. Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday in French but thats not where it originated. It started as a pagan holiday to celebrate Spring. Rome was the first to combine Christianity with these pagan rituals in an attempt to unify their people. This integrated carnival was then celebrated in all Catholic-based countries and brought to New Orleans with the French in 1827. In 1857 krewes, or groups of people with a common link, introduced the parades and colorful floats, led by Comus. Krewes still exist and every year they each pick their own theme and the themes arent revealed until the first parade.
4. 4. The original King of Carnival was Rex. He is the one who chose the yellows, greens and purples as symbolic colors. Interestingly enough, he chose them to honor a visiting Russian Grand Duke; green for faith, gold for power and purple for justice, and the song since it was the Dukes favorite. The courts of Rex and Comus now oversee the holiday each year.
5. 5. Today Mardi Gras is still all about overindulging and providing a time to misbehave before having to behave. Its a purge of all our inappropriate desires as humans. What could represent us, the human race, any better than that?
6. 6. Every year each krewe chooses a theme, costumes, music, builds a float and stockpiles beads to throw out to the crowds. Beads, that anywhere else are completely worthless, are a necessity at Mardi Gras. They become a way of bartering with others, and a status symbol as more beads mean you are more successful and more important, there in that moment only. A King and Queen of each krewe are also chosen. I found it interesting that they are the only ones who do not wear a mask. Analysis:
7. 7. Masks are everywhere. I was unaware until now that all float riders have to wear masks to preserve their anonymity. Its an actual city code. You must, however, take it off and/or say who you are if asked. The masks started as a way of allowing the shy to cast aside their inhibitions and join in.
8. 8. The colorful parades flow through streets, the bright lights come on, the smells from the many restaurants mixed with the stench from the alleyways fill your nose, and music is heard everywhere over the socializing. I love the way carnival feels. Watchers are carefree, happy, and feel youthful and united until at odds for coveted trinkets. The festivities surround you, drawing you this way and that. Youre amazed at the bright colors and sounds but at the same time the masked figures on floats strike fear; a fear that somehow makes you feel more alive. Smooth is the best word for the entire experience.
9. 9. I
10. 10. e Purples, greens, yellows, masked faces and white-gloved hands throwing sparkly beads that are later seen on smiling people who see them as pronouncing their worth. Laughter down every corridor. You dont dare go, but you wonder.
11. 11. How can one describe Mardi Gras? Very simple, its a welcome assault on all the senses. Its humanity in its most raw form; the good and the bad intertwined, beauty and the unseemly together. Interpretation:
12. 12. Its the new and the old intertwined.
13. 13. And rebirth where there was recently chaos.
14. 14. Its wonderful smells and tastes.
15. 15. Its captivating colors and the excitement of the floats and bright lights, mesmerizing jazz music all coming at you in movements.
16. 16. Its the forced closeness of all the people celebrating; the bumping and brushing and the fact that people let their guard down and smile, speak. They set all else aside and willingly coexist for a brief moment; they touch.
17. 17. a
18. 18. Mardi Gras symbolizes hope and renewal. Like Spring, it returns every year promising a fresh start after a much needed purge.
19. 19. Evaluation: There are parts I choose not to participate in. Luckily, Mardi Gras trickles into and takes over every part of New Orleans during carnival. Theres so much to do, and I cant deny that I cherish the energy I get from this city in general. I relish the beauty that comes from it forcing us to face our past and our future, the inevitable and the here and now.
20. 20. The most alluring quality of this celebration is that its based on a story as old as time: Were born, then we die. No exceptions. In this, if only this, we are all equal.
21. 21. Mardi Gras reminds us to appreciate whats right in front of us at the moment, and to truly live. Isnt that the purpose of real art?
22. 22. The End Works Cited: History. Mardi Gras. A&E Networks. 2015. Web. 29, March 2015. http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mardi-gras. Mardi Gras. Journeymart.com. 2014. Web. 29, March 2015. http://www.journeymart.com/holidays- ideas/festivals/mardi-gras.aspx. Mardi Gras, New Orleans. Mardi Gras, New Orleans. Compucast Web, Inc. 2015. Web. 29, March 2015. http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. . Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. . Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. .