ceebeegee | Update on New Orleans picture...

(Link in case you can't see it.)

Key: All the names after "Come back..." (on the right--Rex, Iris, etc.) are krewe names. Krewes are the organizations that put on Mardi Gras for the rest of us. They have parades, usually 1 per krewe, and balls. The parades are public; the balls are usually private. Krewes also elect (usually within their krewe although sometimes they'll choose a celebrity) a royal court, including a King and Queen. Sometimes the Queen is a debutante; sometimes she's a local businesswoman. Rex is the most prestigious of those krewes and its membership used to be restricted only to the highest socially-placed WASPs in the city, but they decided to admit non-WASPs after the NO Council passed a bill saying if they were restricted on the basis of color/religion, they couldn't ask for public funds to clean up after their parades. Comus was the other big krewe (Rex and Comus are the oldest) but Comus wouldn't desegregate so they don't roll anymore (but they still have balls). Anyway, so Zulu is the premier black krewe and everyone loves their parades--their big "throw" (favor thrown from the floats--these are published in the Times-Picayune) is a gold-painted coconut. EVERYONE wants one. Iris is the oldest women's krewe. (Proteus is also really old. (Old is good,with krewes.) Hermes, Babylon--all those mythological/Biblical names are krewe names.

"Throw me something, mister" is what everyone says when the parades roll. Everyone wants beads, cups, coconuts, necklaces. It doesn't matter of you've got an attic full of them at home; you want more.

"You know what it means to miss New Orleans..." Yes, I do. I'll be back.