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The Feast of Epiphany (Twelfth Night of Christmas) is over and New Orleans is now gearing up for it's annual Mardi Gras celebration.
Epiphany is the day that the Three Wise Men presented their gifts to the baby Jesus while Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a period of fasting and repentance. Because of the forty days of fasting during the Lenten season, the day before led to great feasting and celebrations. This day became known as Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras in the French that was spoken in early New Orleans history. The Feast of Epiphany led to one of the first traditions of Mardi Gras, the King Cake. To celebrate the gifts given by the Three Wise Men, it was customary to bake a cake in their honor, the King Cake, complete with a baby (before plastic, a bean was used) inside of it. (http://www.gambinos.com/mghistor.htm) It soon became a tradition that who ever had the piece of King Cake with the baby inside would be responsible for hosting the next King Cake party. The celebration of the King Cake parties were soon to intensify and lead to more fervent parties, including "bals masque" (masked balls). These parties were to become so widespread and boisterous that they were outlawed in 1806 with masks being declared illegal in 1817. Even with laws against the celebrations, they continued on and all restrictions against them were removed in 1826. In 1856, six men from Mobile, Alabama decided to bring their own brand of carnival to the city and founded the "The Mystick Krewe of Comus". The oldest krewe, still in existence, it was formed to poke fun at the local politicians (the reason behind the selection of the name Comus and the funny spelling of the word krewe). From that point on, it has gained in popularity ever since with a few booster shots along the way. After the end of the Civil War, New Orleans was recovering from the devastations of war time and the slow decline of its prominence as a world trade port with the invention of the locomotive. To entice more tourists to the city, several civic leaders gathered together and formed the Krewe of Rex. As circumstance would have it, the same year that Rex was formed, the Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff was visiting the United States and was to make New Orleans his last stop before leaving for home. Go To Page: 1 2
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