February Proof

Shenandoah Homeowners Association
NEWSWATCH
February 2020 Issue 2 Serving the 2,160 Homeowners of Shenandoah Estates Since 1972
The History Behind 5 of New Orleans’ Favorite
The round cake, which nowadays comes decked out in green, gold and purple ic- ing, dates back to the Middle Ages when European Christians feasted before the Lenten fast. Like many Christian folk traditions, it may originally have had pagan origins. During Saturnalia, the ancient Roman winter solstice celebra- tion of the deity Saturn, the person who found a special item hidden in a cake would be “king of the day,” according to the Larousse Gastronomique culinary encyclopedia.
Comus stopped parading in 1991, in response to a bill requiring the krewes to integrate.
Mardi Gras Colors
The Rex Organization — the group found- ed in 1872 that’s also famous for start- ing the tradition of naming a parading Carnival King — claims credit for the purple, green and gold color scheme now associated with Mardi Grass. That was the color-scheme of their 1892 “Symbolism of Colors” parade, and the three shades are said to symbolize jus- tice, faith and power, respectively.
Masks and Costumes
Masks and costumes have been associ- ated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations for centuries. And even today of the masks commonly seen in New Orleans on Mardi Gras are the same types pop- ularized by the two-to-three-week-long Carnivale in Venice that culminates with Fat Tuesday. But masking and cos- tume-wearing in New Orleans also has a specifically
Mardi Gras Traditions
CREDIT: TIME: BY OLIVIA B. WAXMAN FEBRUARY 12, 2018
In the Christian calendar, Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday, the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday, is a day to feast before the weeks-long fast that ends with Easter. While it’s many cit- ies celebrate that last chance to party, which falls this Tuesday, no city is more famous for Mardi Gras — “Fat Tuesday” in French — than New Orleans.
And, though the Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans originated in this Chris- tian tradition, today the celebration is better known as a day for people of all faiths, races, and ethnicities to come together at the parades, eat great food, and compete to catch beads, doubloons and other throws from the people wear- ing masks on the floats parading down the streets.
Here’s an introduction to the history be- hind some of those popular traditions.
Krewes
Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville threw a par- ty when he landed in the Gulf Coast city (which he called Point du Mardi Gras) on Fat Tuesday in 1699.
Beads and Throws
The throwing of beads and fake jewels, from parade floats to those watching down below, is thought to have started in the late 19th century, when a carni- val king threw fake strands of gems and rings to his “loyal subjects” sometime in the 1890s. By the early 1920s, one of the Krewes, probably Rex, started reg- ularly throwing strands of glass Czech beads, a precursor to the plastic beads seen today.
Other “throws” — such as “doubloons” marked with the names of the krewes that make them — followed after.
Recently, during a clean-up project, New Orleans excavated more than 45 tons of beads from its storm drains.
King Cakes
Likely one of the many Carnival tradi- tions brought over by the French set- tlers who landed in North America, this cake with a baby Jesus figurine baked inside is a symbol of the Epiphany, the day when the three Kings brought gifts to the baby Jesus.
This term for the New Orleans clubs that organize the Mardi Gras festivities was coined by The Mystick Krewe of Comus, the group that put on the first parade in the city with themed floats — the model for future parades — in 1857. They start- ed the tradition of wearing masks and carrying torches, known as flambeaux, to light the evening revelries. The or- ganizers came from Mobile, Ala., which had been hosting similar festivities ever since French-Canadian explorer
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