Revelers are packing the streets ahead of the first full-dress Mardi Gras in two years today, with back-to-back parades restoring the party spirit in New Orleans.
The state holiday in Louisiana will see the streets full of color as partygoers don purple, green, and gold clothing today for the highly-anticipated celebrations after two weeks of festivities in the city.
On Sunday, when the huge Krewe of Bacchus was paraded through the city, the biggest crowds in ten years came out to celebrate the holiday which is colloquially known as the greatest free show on earth.
Costumed revelers participate in the Krewe of Red Beans parade through the Marigny on Monday ahead of the highly-anticipated Mardi Gras celebrations today
The krewe uses beans to decorate homemade costumes for its second-line style walking parades during the festivities in New Orleans
Wooden-wheeled wagons carry The Krewe of Proteus as they roll along the traditional Uptown parade route on Monday
Revelers are packing the streets ahead of the first full-dress Mardi Gras in two years today, with back-to-back parades restoring the party spirit in New Orleans
Parade routes are shorter than usual, because there aren’t enough police for the standard ones, even with officers working 12-hour shifts as they always do on Mardi Gras and the end of the Carnival season leading up to it
The King of Proteus, whose identity is never revealed to the public, leads his krewe’s parade along the traditional Uptown parade
The Orpheus Leviathan, a signature float in the 2022 Krewe of Orpheus parade, rolls down Napoleon Avenue on Monday
Harry Connick, Jr. leads the 2022 Krewe of Orpheus parade that takes place on the traditional Uptown parade route
Singers Margie Perez (left) and Al ‘Carnival Time’ Johnson (right) participate in the Krewe of Red Beans parade on Monday
Masks are only required in indoor spaces and the relaxation of Covid rules means revelers can make the most of the festivities after its absence last year.
Parade routes are shorter than usual, because there aren’t enough police for the standard ones, even with officers working 12-hour shifts as they always do on Mardi Gras and the end of the Carnival season leading up to it.
Thomas Houston, bar manager at Superior Seafood and Oyster Bar at the start of the truncated parade route said Sunday ‘was a record for us in the 10 years we’ve been open’.
He expected similar crowds on Fat Tuesday if the weather is good. and Ash Wednesday when people following the Catholic tradition of meatless Lenten fare are out for seafood.
‘It’s not just a fun money-making time but you get to see people who’ve been around for 10 years,’ he said.
Hotel occupancy, though, is expected to be about 66 per cent, down about 19.5 per cent from 2020, said Kelly Schultz, spokesperson for New Orleans & Co., the official sales and marketing organization for New Orleans’ tourism industry.
Masks are only required in indoor spaces and the relaxation of Covid rules means revelers can make the most of the festivities after its absence last year
The 2022 Krewe of Proteus parade takes place on the traditional Uptown parade route after a two year absence from the celebrations
Celebrity monarch Nicole Scherzinger (centre) rides in the 2022 Krewe of Orpheus parade during Monday’s festivities
A costumed member of the Krewe of Red Beans marches through the street during Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans
A large skeleton shaped puppet marches with the Krewe of Red Beans during Monday’s parade, ahead of the main event on Tuesday
David Marin holds a sign critical of Russian leader Vladimir Putin amid the war in UKraine while marching with the Krewe of Red Beans
Parades were canceled last year because officials realized that tightly packed crowds in 2020 had created a superspreader event, making the city an early Southern hot spot for Covid-19.
But ‘2020 was weird,’ Houston said, because two people were hit by floats and killed in the week leading up to Mardi Gras and the mayor suspended use of multiple floats hitched behind one tractor.
‘Also the coronavirus was sort of looming over us,’ even though its presence wasn’t yet known in New Orleans, Houston said.
As it has for years, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club will open Fat Tuesday with a parade that started as a mockery of white festivities, with Black float riders in blackface and grass skirts.
Next come the elaborate and fantastical floats of Rex, the self-styled king of Carnival, chosen by a group of high society, old-money businessmen.
After that are the Krewe of Elks and the Krewe of Orleans, a not-quite-endless stretch of homemade floats on long flatbed trailers.
A flambeaux carrier lights the way as the Krewe of Orpheus rolls on the Uptown route with the theme ‘Glacial Tomes and Conflagrations’
Parades were canceled last year because officials realized that tightly packed crowds in 2020 had created a superspreader event
In New Orleans, Mardi Gras celebrations have been building for days, with plastic beads in gold, green and purples lining parade routes, piling up at curbs like leaves in the fall
Families and neighbors staked out spots early each morning, putting out camping chairs, barbecue grills and propane burners topped with massive pots for crawfish boils
After last year’s false spring, when hopes for emerging from the pandemic were dashed by the Delta and then Omicron variants of the coronavirus, many merrymakers on New Orleans’ streets said it felt like a stepping out party from the plague.
‘We’re in a stronger place today as a nation with more tools to protect ourselves and our community from Covid-19,’ the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said at a media briefing on Friday to announce an easing of pandemic restrictions.
Louisiana, an early Covid hotspot, has seen cases, hospitalizations and deaths fall in recent weeks.
In New Orleans, Mardi Gras celebrations have been building for days, with plastic beads in gold, green and purples lining parade routes, piling up at curbs like leaves in the fall.
Families and neighbors staked out spots early each morning, putting out camping chairs, barbecue grills and propane burners topped with massive pots for crawfish boils.
On Bourbon Street, tens of thousands are thronging each night, creating a gauntlet of spilt beer amid a smoky marijuana haze and loud music.
Mardi Gras is a Carnival celebration held in some countries on or after the feasts of the Epiphany in the Christian church
The Krewe of Proteus rolls on the Uptown route with the theme ‘Divine Tricksters’ in New Orleans
28: The Orpheus Leviathan, a signature float in the 2022 Krewe of Orpheus parade, rolls down Napoleon Avenue
The past two years have made it clear how important traditions like Carnival, graduation parties and even spring breaks are, said Dr. Steven Taylor, a psychiatry professor at the University of British Columbia and author of the 2019 book ‘The Psychology of Pandemics.’
‘They are time markers, indicators of continuity,’ he said. ‘They show us that life keeps going on, that life is stable because we have these rituals like Mardi Gras.’
The revelry in New Orleans is a show of human resilience and deep desire for connection, Taylor said. ‘A lot of people are desperate to be caught up in something that is bigger than themselves and is positive for a change.’
That’s exactly what Ashley White, 31, from Baton Rouge, was doing as she jumped up and down on St. Charles Avenue on Sunday, waving and yelling at the ‘queen’ of the Mid City Krewe parade as it slowly rolled before tens of thousands of fans on Sunday.
This Carnival felt similar to the one in 2006, six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, White said. ‘Like then, we’re coming out of something so dark and so damaging, but we’re having this revival.’
Colby Reddin, 31, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was all decked up for his first Mardi Gras, wearing a vest of the traditional yellow, green and purple with oversized beads draped around his neck.
It is held the day before Ash Wednesday and signifies a period of light-hearted celebration before the onset of Lent, a period of fasting and prayer
Flambeaux light the way for the 2022 Krewe of Orpheus parade that takes place on the traditional Uptown parade route
Celebrity monarch Finn Jones from Game of Thrones rides in the 2022 Krewe of Orpheus parade on Monday
As the Krewe of Okeanos parade went by, he held up a bullseye poster challenging marchers to hit it with the beads and other trinkets tossed out at Carnival parades. Reddin said he was struck by how much he had missed something he saw in abundance on the streets of New Orleans: hugging.
‘We haven’t been hugging each other in like two years now,’ he said. ‘It’s all about that human connection, making connections between different cultures, different people coming together and having a great time.’ (Reporting by Brad Brooks in New Orleans; Editing by Donna Bryson and Richard Chang)
Mardi Gras is a Carnival celebration held in some countries on or after the feasts of the Epiphany in the Christian church.
It is held the day before Ash Wednesday and signifies a period of light-hearted celebration before the onset of Lent, a period of fasting and prayer. The event is typically celebrated with parades and jubilant parties.
The festivities started in medieval Europe and have continued for centuries. Mardi Gras was introduced to the United States by French explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville in 1699.
The first Mardi Gras was celebrated in New Orleans in 1856 after being organized by a group of local businessmen called the Mistick Krewe of Comus
The krewe uses beans to decorate homemade costumes for its second-line style walking parades
Over the years, Mardi Gras has become known for its lavish parades, outlandish costumes and its reputation for hedonism
Though observed in a number of countries around the world, the most famous Mardi Gras celebrations take place in New Orleans
The first official Mardi Gras celebration in the country was held in 1703 near present-day Mobile, Alabama.
Though observed in a number of countries around the world, the most famous Mardi Gras celebrations take place in New Orleans. Other Mardi Gras celebrations are held in France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and other countries.
In Brazil, the famous Carnival celebrations are held on the Friday before Ash Wednesday until Ash Wednesday itself and share many similarities to the other Mardi Gras events held in the United States, Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Mardi Gras food in the United States is often Southern and Creole-themed and includes crawfish, shrimp Malacca, gumbo and jambalaya.
The first Mardi Gras was celebrated in New Orleans in 1856 after being organized by a group of local businessmen called the Mistick Krewe of Comus.
The first official parade was held a year later in 1857 while the event was declared a legal holiday in the state of Louisiana in 1875, according to History.com.
Over the years, its become known for its lavish parades and reputation for hedonism.
