Since I started this blog, I've road tripped to New Orleans, had a quick NYC weekend getaway, and went to Florida for vacation (though I haven't documented any of them).
I'll start off now with a bit from my trip to New Orleans.
After spending more than 20 hours in the car, I was more than ready to arrive in New Orleans. Nearly 9 pm, we had left Blacksburg, Va earlier that day at 8 am. It grew increasingly dark as we neared The Big Easy.
The straight, flat highway seemed to disappear in front of us into a gathering of lights, speckled in in the dark sky front of us like fireflies in the summer. The city looked large, larger than I expected.
As we entered the city from the northeast, the first landmark I recognized was the Louisiana Superdome. The Superdome is currently home to the New Orleans Saints football team, but it was also once home to millions of New Orleans citizens.
The first professional football game was played in the Superdome in 1975. In August 2005, however, the Superdome housed upward of 35,000 people when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. Though it was used as a shelter of last resort, it saved the lives of those who lived in downtown New Orleans, people who did not have the opportunity to evacuate before the hurricane wreaked its havoc.
An iconic image of the city, this will always be my first memory of New Orleans. However, it was not my only one.
My friends and I stayed in mid-town New Orleans with friends from Tulane University. We had made the trip for our Spring Break, and for Mardi Gras. We spent the first night, Wednesday, settling in to our temporary home, before enjoying parades on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
As we prepared for the parades with elaborate makeup, wild hair and outlandish clothing, our friends warned us that we were in for a remarkable experience. Remarkable was an understatement.
A celebration that begins two weeks before Ash Wednesday and lasts until Fat Tuesday, the U.S. Mardi Gras originated in Mobile, Alabama. The tradition was brought to the U.S. by French Catholics, which is why the French city of New Orleans is known for its Mardi Gras celebrations. It originated in the French Quarter of the city, with Bourbon St. decorated in green for faith, purple for justice and gold for power. While parades no longer pass through Bourbon St., (they follow an Uptown and mid-town route along St. Charles Ave. Canal St.) Bourbon St. is highly associated with the city and the celebration.
Multiple parades take place each day - my friends and I attended seven in three days - and are organized and put on by Carnival krewes. Members of the krewes organize, fund and carry out the parades. Parades often have origins in Greek mythology; some of the parade's names include Hermes, Chaos and Okeanos. Krewes decide which parade theme they will host and provide colored beads and other trinkets to throw from parade floats to the crowd.
These days, many unused parade beads are recycled for next year's parades. Some krewes distribute special items, unique to their parade.
Luckily I caught a beaded necklace full of winged-feet from the Hermes parade. There is never a shortage of beads - I felt the weight of my parade beads on my shoulders for days following.
Luckily I caught a beaded necklace full of winged-feet from the Hermes parade. There is never a shortage of beads - I felt the weight of my parade beads on my shoulders for days following.
As I quickly discovered, the belief that women flash krewes in order to get beads is emphatically false. No one flashed for beads, it didn't even occur to my Tulane friends to do so. "That's such a tourist thing," one girl said. "Only tourists downtown even think of flashing."
Although I only had three days of New Orleans' parades, it was more than enough for me. Exhausted, I had no idea how our Tulane friends were able to go to parades all day, everyday. "Orientation grooms us for Mardi Gras," my friend said. They were basically energizer bunnies in my mind.
Driving past the Superdome on the way out of the city, it was hard to imagine that a few years ago that stadium held this city together. And while its Mardi Gras celebrations were somewhat out of control, it was well-deserved. The Superdome represented the city's never-give-up attitude, which was indeed something to celebrate.
