Mardi Gras - Page 3

juniorgrrl · #31 01-16-2002, 02:03 AM

It totally depends on the Krewe. Rex, Comus, Momus, Twelfth Night Revelers, to name a few, come to you if they want you as a member, and you must be "someone" to be in the Krewe. And only the daughters/sons of a very select group of old-line families become the maids. Usually they do this their debutante season. You see the same names over and over in the paper for the old-line groups. A girl is usually queen of one org, and then a maid to others. The only exception is you cannot be in both Rex and Comus, the two oldest groups. Reason: their balls are both on Mardi Gras night. That does not mean your family can't hold membership in both krewes, it just means that you cannot be a part of both courts. Its a very special tradition to watch the Meeting of the Courts on tv on Mardi Gras night. At about 11:30, Comus and his queen come over to the Rex ball (they're held in the same auditorium) and they parade around. Its absolutely gorgeous - Rex and his queen in gold and Comus and his queen in silver. At the stroke of midnight Mardi Gras is over, and the balls conclude. Thus begins Ash Wednesday in New Orleans, a city with a very large Catholic population.

There are many many other Krewes whose membership is much more open. Bacchus, Endymion, Orpheus are 3 of the "super-krewes" that have a large and diverse membership. Maids do not have to be debs, or even young girls. Sometimes it is the adult women of the club. The super-krewes usually have a celebrity grand marshall.

ladybug1116 · #32 01-16-2002, 02:54 AM

Thanks for the info

justamom · #33 01-16-2002, 07:47 AM

Even in other areas some Krewes have a solid closed door policy.
I've seen 95 year old men and women walk into the party (in costume) strut ther stuff(pulling an oxygen tank J/J), and head home. They will DIE with their membership clutched in their hands (or at least until they are certain their offspring has a membership) Many times, the female Krewe is a direct counter part to a male krewe. So unless your husband is in Krewe of Blue blood you will never be in Krewe of Blue blood wives!

There have been a few exceptions though. The women are much more ferocious about getting their daughters in their Krewe than the men are about their sons. Since the sons are the bread winners in most cases, if thier job description isn't up to "snuff" they have a MUCH longer wait to get an invitation, if t all-depends on the parent's clout in the community and within the Krewe itself.

We aren't that expensive in this area, and many costumes are recycled for a very long time. $500/yr is about the highest.
To be on a court can run well in to the10s of thousands. The King and queen have to host parties througout the season AND I think in N.O. the cape/crown alone can run over $20,000.00. Juniorgirl may have better information on this.

Membership is secret until they hoist the flags on their homes. It is not unusual to be in more than 3 in our area. The older you get though, the more apt you are to narrow it down to 2 or 3.

aopirose · #34 01-16-2002, 11:53 AM

I agree with juniorgrrl and justamom have said. I made my debut with an old exclusive Krewe. The group had a membership cap of 150 and most of the members were pretty up there in age. The only way that a new person could join was if a member died or resigned. While it may sound intriguing and glamorous, which it is, Krewes like this have to be careful because they could exclude themselves right out of existence. That season ran us about $8,000-10,000 and that was 18 years ago. This Krewe highly encouraged each deb to host a party to get to know each other but it wasn't necessary. The parents were all too happy to host a party and darn the expense. Just with this organization, I had to attend 12 deb parties (including my own), the King, Queen and President each had a party, plus the announcement party and the ball itself. Sometimes an aunt or grandmother would host a luncheon as well. My friends were also making their debuts at the same time so of course I had to go their parties too.

The biggest expenses were the party gowns. You couldn't wear the same dress twice because you never knew if your picture was going to be in the paper. It is a big deal to have the society columnist come to your party and write an article. Many of the girls swapped dresses. This helped with expenses but I wasn't as lucky. At a size 1, yes they make clothes that small but the selection is limited, I was the tiniest and my clothes were either made or special ordered.

As far as the Krewe costumes go, it really depends on the Krewe. None of the organizations that I belong to reuses its costumes. The cost of new ones is covered in our dues. Krewe Costume - Krewe of Orpheus www.kreweoforpheus.net

The court costumes are a different matter. Some Krewes have a traditional crown & scepter, collar and mantle/cape that are used every year and belong to the Krewe. The king and queen may get smaller crowns and scepters as keepsakes. This is the approach that Rex uses. www.rexorganization.com

Other Krewes have their king and queen in a new ensemble every year and the royalty gets to keep it. These can really get up there and $20,000 for a costume is not unheard of. These are from the Krewe of Aquila (www.welcome.to/kreweofaquila) - King, Queen, Pages and Maid & Duke.

King & Queen - For some reason, this image won't show up here.

Pages

Maid & Duke

Officers may also have distinctive costumes. Corps de Napoleon - www.napoleonparade.com/aboutofficers.htm

aopirose · #35 01-29-2002, 05:39 PM

I didn't know who all might still want to follow this but here goes.

Krewe #1 - Parade Jan. 19 - Theme was magical related - Magical Moments (?). The day started off warm (mid to upper 70's), overcast and muggy. We had a Krewe breakfast at a local banquet hall at 8. Family and friends were invited so there were tons of people. The Captain, king and queen made lovely speeches which were met with thundering rounds of applause. However, I don't think that anyone cheered louder than my one-year son before, during and after. Don't worry, he wasn't obnoxious even if he wasn't my child. During breakfast, the sun came out and we thought that it was going to be a beautiful day. I was wearing shorts. There was about an hour before the floats would arrive so we went back home to chill. An hour later, we were going to the line up and it started to sprinkle. A cool front was supposed to come through but the weatherman said that it would hold off until much later. Right.

Anyway, there we are loading the floats in this misty drizzle but it was doable. Ten minutes before we were set to roll the skies opened for this great downpour and just as suddenly it stopped. Thank goodness I was riding on the bottom and I didn't get wet but the people on top were drenched. It's still warm by the way. We start rolling along. The crowds are there but you could tell a lot of people stayed home. I know I would have if I didn't have to be in the parade. Fast-forward about half an hour. The skies open again but this time it brought a serious north wind. Again, I thanked goodness that I was on the bottom. Only my hands were getting wet as I threw my beads, but my joy didn't last long. The temperature kept dropping and dropping. My hands were like two red claws and I could barely break the plastic bags. I just started throwing the bags. There were still people on the street in that nasty weather. We never did stop at the grandstand to toast the mayor et al… so the entire thing lasted about 90 minutes. The temperature had dropped to 40 degrees in less than an hour and you could see your breath when you talked. It was OK. The important thing was that we rolled. We'll just prayer for better weather next year.

Krewe #2 - Ball Jan. 26 - This Krewe only has a ball and the theme was Treasure of the Orient. The auditorium was decorated in a Chinese motif of red, black and gold. There were panels on the wall with each maid's name written in Chinese characters. A large dragon covered the railing of the balcony area. The table decorations were metal Chinese lanterns. Very pretty. I as well as some friends volunteered to be in the tableau - a skit or performance that carries out the theme. We had done it before and had a great time so we immediately volunteered again. Well, I had opened my big mouth to choreograph the tableau in case Plan A fell through. Plan A dropped as soon as she found out that there was a Plan B. It wasn't hard feelings. She just felt overwhelmed by the commitment and was greatly relieved. Lucky me. Our group originally began with 16 members and rapidly dropped to 7 by the end of October. We worked hard on our ribbon dance and it looked great. Well, right after New Year's I was informed that the ribbon dance was too short and we needed to fill more time. Enter the fan dance. OMG. We had picked up another lady which was great but I was still fooling with 3 women in their 70's. It took us months to get the ribbon dance. How on earth were they going to get something new and perfect it in 3 weeks?! (We did have this Chinese lion that came out and performed too. After he did his thing, we lined up behind him to throw our stuff during the promenade. The girls from my neighborhood threw fortune cookies and the rest threw beads.)

Well, suffice it to say that I kept it very, very simple and we pulled it together. Several attendees went to the captain to ask if we were from the local dance studio. I felt great and so proud of my ladies. I know that asking the captain about us may seem crazy since they are members too but we had awesome costumes. We were dressed in jewel colored Chinese satin jackets, black satin pants, black slippers and black pill box hats. Our faces were painted white with pink eye shadow and overarched brows. Our lips were painted kewpie style in a deep red. We also wore black wigs that were cut into a bob. Even our husbands didn't recognize us. Oh the maids. Each one represented some aspect of Asia - jade, orchids, pearls, dragons, etc… The stunner of the evening was the queen. She represented the first and only woman emperor of China. I forgot her name but I remember that she was an empress first and then became the emperor. Her costume was so authentic that it really took your breath away. It was all in red and gold brocade. What I like about Carnival is that you learn a lot of things. A lot of research goes into picking themes and characters. It can be a true history lesson.

Krewe #3 - Open house is this weekend and we get to see the finished floats. The parade is not until Feb. 11. Hubby is riding so I got a new dress! It looks stunning on me if I do say so myself. I had to get it in black because the red is not available until March.

justamom · #36 02-01-2002, 09:19 AM

h2oot-Another Mardi Gras tradition is to get a group and go skiing in Aspen or some place.

This is so true! Many girls who are eligible to be debutantes HERE forego the opportunity. They prefer to take off with their friends. Many families don't like all the "Mardi Gras Madness" and started heir own tradition of leaving town!

I have heard that some of the best Mardi Gras parties are at ski lodges in Co.!

aopirose · #37 02-01-2002, 10:41 AM

I always thought that was hysterical. They leave to get away from Carnival only to go and recreate it elsewhere.

Quote:

Originally posted by justamom
I have heard that some of the best Mardi Gras parties are at ski lodges in Co.!

KSigkid · #38 02-07-2002, 08:38 AM

It is now a mere 48 hours before me, KSigRC, and about 15 other Kappa Sigs from our chapter go down to New Orleans and re-define "ridiculous." For the past week in class, most of my notebooks have "Mardi Gras," "New Orleans," and other Mardi Gras stuff doodled in them. Figured I'd post while I'm still sober/coherent.

Collin

juniorgrrl · #39 02-07-2002, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by prospectiverushee
A friend of mine just sent me this link about New Orleans. It's really cute:

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/020129.html

I (and most other native New Orleneans) were extremely offended by this link. It implies we're all: dumb cajuns, sex-crazed, alcoholics, stuipd....so not true.

This man came to our beautiful city and called it a cess pool. Which it is not. I don't suppose he got his LAZY (how he refers to us) ass down to the Garden Distric to jog in Audubon Park, or out to the lakefront to see one of the largest freshwater lakes in the country. He didn't take a drive to see the northshore, and how beautiful it is. He didn't take a visit to Newman, Jesuit or Sacred Heart to see some of the best-educated kids in the city - no, he thinks we all can't do change for a $20.

And the bit about "creole jibberish", well, I can say for sure that I don't speak it, and most people don't. There is a distinctive accent for the 9th ward area, uptown...different areas of the city speak differently. But cajun-country is down the bayou in Thibadeaux and up in Baton Rouge. Not New Orleans.

This just makes me so mad, I hope we never allow this dick to come back to MY city. He's only going to see what The Waterboy and The Big Easy have taught him about us. Its his loss.

prospectiverushee · #40 02-08-2002, 01:46 PM

I'm going to go ahead and erase the link. I didn't stop to think that others might be offend. Sorry

APhiRattlerGal · #41 02-08-2002, 06:32 PM

Well even though i've never been to the NO Mardi Gras

, The one in Austin on 6th street is pretty tight.

justamom · #42 02-08-2002, 06:48 PM

prospectiverushee, I wouldn't worry about it. It's like the first time I visited Tx. They asked if we had "Indians" roaming around Kansas!

KSigkid, If you run into the most gorgeous brunette (hair to the middle of her back) 5'6" and very curvey...tell her you know justamom...crappy opening line, but it just might work! LOL
Not on HER, but on somebody!

You guys be careful!

Optimist Prime · #43 02-08-2002, 09:07 PM

I swore I'd go next year. Still no beads.

eightball · #44 02-08-2002, 11:46 PM

Did I already tell you guys about last year's Mardi Gras? It was pure comedy. A friend got drunk and fell off the float! And, the night ended with a girl flashing her p***y from a rooftop!

I know, I know, someone is going to reply "Who gives a f**k SH80???"

HeavenslilAngel · #45 02-10-2002, 12:15 AM

Hey ya'll!

Mardi Gras is officially on now. I'm from Louisiana and everybody went either home or to celebrate. I wish I was down there but I'm stuck here at school. 2 of my friends went down there and so did my sister. I'll probably see pictures and hear stories for a while after everyone gets back.