The Yin and Yang of Spirit and Flesh

The celebration that is Mardi Gras has come and gone for 2006 having lived out its fortnight long existence only to be blown away as if it were a magnificent Buddhist sand painting created from living elements and plastic. Even the street cleaners are nearly finished with their jobs and in this city where large piles of trash have been sitting on the curbside for the six months since Katrina, the garbage of Mardi Gras is already mostly a memory. That is really the genius of Carnival. We are reminded again, in that way that folks in New Orleans remind each other over and over (at second line parades, funerals, music festivals, impromptu get togethers and big planned parties… and at Mardi Gras) life is ephemeral. Your days are not long, but they are to be loved, enjoyed, and celebrated. Always.

It is, as they say, better than the alternative.


Mardi Gras has its origins in the giant festivals of medieval Europe, the Feast of Fools was a time each year when the tables were turned on the high and mighty and for a brief period of time the peasants could act like Kings and Queens (and Priests). About the only thing that bothers me about the celebration is the fact that while most of the Mardi Gras parade Krewes celebrate this turning of the tables, most of them are made up, exclusively, of the high and mighty, the movers and the shakers in the town. Because of this fact, the tradition in a sense reinforces the very top down hierarchical structure that it is supposed to be tossing on its head. I'm guessing that this is not something really new. On some level, like so many forms of modern entertainment, the barons and dukes and kings of old granted their permission for such celebrations as a way of letting off the steam that might otherwise explode into fully formed revolutionary fervor. The same thing is going on today and that may be one place where the celebrations of Mardi Gras are in fact harmful to the cause of justice, peace and human equality. In addition to being a big party, there is something in Carnival that serves as a pressure release valve on the inequities of society. It's always been this way, and very likely always will.

There are of course exceptions to this… Krewe du Vieux for instance is a little parade that makes it's way through the Marigny and the French Quarter and truly celebrates the throwing over of the order. It's baudiness and farcical humor is much more in line with the origins of the Feast of Fools and, to me, more appropriate to the purpose of Carnival. The celebrations on Mardi Gras Day in the French Quarter where anyone and everyone dresses for themselves and others and on St. Charles Avenue, where the more formal parades are preceded by the impromptu celebrations of groups like Mondo Kayo, who take advantage of the already prepared audience and set themselves up as the opening parade in a day of parades.

Possibly my favorite tradition is that of the Mardi Gras Indians, who celebrate the connections that former slaves had with Native Americans, but with a flair of their own that makes the celebration more African American than Native American. There is a true turning of the tables when a macho lathe worker spends weeks and months sewing feathers and beads to a giant costume that will then be worn to determine who is the "prettiest" Big Chief of the day. On Tuesday the Indians mostly massed in the ninth ward as a way of paying respect to those in the communitiy who lost houses, possesions, histories, relatives, friends and even their lives to the hurricane, and the accompanying aftermath of a government that was out of touch with reality.

What were the particulary poignant and/or delightful images? What was the "best stuff" of Mardi Gras 2006?

That's easy… Katrina, FEMA, and ubiquitous refrigerators. There was a definite gallows humor expressed over and over again, from the people who dressed up as people on top of houses accompanying their Fat Tuesday parade down Royal Street with a boom box wailing "Up On The Roof." There were Looter Girls (complete with custom designed versions of the Hooters T-Shirt uniform) in the Krewe D'etat parade, and one of my friends and clients walked the streets on Tuesday as the Mold & The Beautiful. Even the mayor played out his mid-Katrina fantasy by riding in a parade as Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, the only person Nagin could bring himself to honor during the long days immediately following the breech of the levees and the flooding of the city. Of course, if he had more of a sense of humor, a more complete grasp of the chaotic humor at the heart of Mardi Gras, he might have gone as one of the many Willy Wonkas out for the day, but I suppose that's expecting a bit much from a politician running for re-election, especially in the current climate.

So the strange crazy sand painting has had its day, been blown to the winds and swept up with the trash. We now begin the season of Lent, a time for reflection, repentance, and renewal. Forty days set aside for the purpose of introspection and personal realignment. It's a period that goes hand in glove with Carnival. This is who we are as people; life is crazy, unpredictable, thrilling and funny. It is also deep, dark, demanding and hard.

I used to be more of a revolutionary. I used to believe that the suffering of people needed to be played out completely. Without following the outcomes of inescapable injustice to their final conclusions change could never come. These days I'm a bit more patient and a lot more positive. If Mardi Gras provides the opportunity to face into the heart of the chaos and find relief in our ability to laugh and cry simultaneously, perhaps Lent can show us the way out of that chaos through discipline, dedication and heart.