Warning: image heavy
Late night retrospective images of the last four days of Mardi Gras in Mobile...posted in the last fading hours before Ash Wednesday.
Mobile, AL was founded by the French in 1702 and had the first recorded Mardi Gras observance in America in 1703.
I call Mobile New Orleans lite. We have a lot of the same traditions, the climate and culture are similar, but everything in Mobile is on a somewhat smaller, less aggressively urban, scale. Mobilians make a big deal out of having the first Mardi Gras in America...our celebration is quite a bit more family oriented and less daunting to deal with. I can usually get from my midtown home to the parade routes, get parked and positioned for viewing the floats within a half hour. Attending the major New Orleans parades is a much more serious logistical effort.
Mardi Gras has a public and a private side. The season starts after the New Year with a series of balls which are invitation-only. Some mardi gras ("mystic") societies do not parade but only hold balls and some of these are rather exclusive. There are families in town who can still trace their residence here from the earliest days of the city and they tend to socialize together. Other mystic societies are more open, accepting members from all walks of Mobile life.
Unlike me, a rather introverted teacher, a connection of mine is a solid citizen and a member of one of the societies that welcomes legal, business, and political pillers of the community. Through him I get to attend the ball as well as hitting the public parades. I'm being vague about his identity because some of the societies can get testy about a member publicly revealing his identity, although in practice it isn't a huge secret, and I don't want to trample on custom or cause this person social strain. In any case, here are a few images taken over the past few days to give you a feel for how Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama is experienced by a not gregarious or particularly-well-connected resident of fourteen years.
For the mystic societies, and guests, the balls:
The Crewe of Columbus Ball begins with a tableau: the presentation of the members of the crewe and their spouses followed by the crowning of the queen, who is led out by a crewe member playing the role of Columbus.
Columbus and his queen
first dance
The royal court and Crewe of Columbus
Then the hoi polli like me get to come down out of the stands and dance. Here is my GF's sister, visiting for Mardi Gras, dancing with the krewe member responsible for my tickets. Check out that fantastic dress.
For the public, the parades!
The parades start several weeks before Fat Tuesday itself but really hit their stride in the last four days.
My favorite is Joe Cain Day, always the Sunday before Fat Tuesday. That's the day of the Joe Cain parade, the only one that anyone can join for a fee and an application. It's a great, laid-back day with grammas, bikers, and little kids all having a great time. The floats tend to be less elaborate...cut-down buses and flatbed trucks but that just adds to the charm. (Images: s; ; ).
mounted krewe member
three or four hundred harleys on Joe Cain day
Jules and daughter Farrah during a night parade
Revelry on Dauphin Street.
Indecent exposure is not as prevalent as in New Orleans...the local authorities keep more of a lid on things, but I'm not saying it doesn't happen.
Mounted cops are in much evidence and pretty generally in a good, relaxed mood. The police in general seem to be having a good time. I see cops on the parade routes picking up beads, moonpies, and doubloons and handing them to kids behind the barracades (jumping barracades will earn you a hefty fine).
Government Street during a parade. If you look carefully you can see hundreds of flying throws coming off the floats:
Well, in 13 minutes Fat Tuesday will be over for 2009 and Ash Wednesday will begin. Both New Orleans and Mobile roll up the sidewalks very aggressively at the stroke of midnight, whether for residual religious respect or general public order I don't know, but tomorrow morning churchgoers on their way for ashes will find the streets empty and mostly clean.
Best regards to all, from Mobile, AL,
Baz