Mardi Gras In Louisiana

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Celebrating Mardi Gras: Two Ways to Do It!

Mardi Gras is the most fun time in Louisiana and also the most famous time that the rest of the country knows about Louisiana. What most people are not aware of that that there are two distinct different ways to celebrate Mardi Gras.

Carnival Time

One is carnival time, mardi gras celebrated by the larger cities of Louisiana, most noteably New Orleans and Lafayette. They are the mardi gras celebrations that get the most press coverage because of the wild things that go on. As you can tell by the p ictures I have on this page, some of the people celebrating mardi gras get carried away, and for those interested in the last picture on the lower right, yes she did do moon the crowd many time and for a few times she was held up with no underwear. The N ew Orleans Police mainly look the other direction when all of this is going on.

Traditional Mardi Gras

The other type of mardi gras celebrations that occur are the traditional mardi gras runs in the small towns. A few notable location are in Mamou and Eunice Louisiana. The traditional mardi gras runs involves many riders on horseback to dress up in costu mes, and ride throughout the countryside complete with a traditional cajun band in tow, stopping at selected farmhouses and dancing for the farmer. The farmer shows his appreciation for the dancers by offering something for the gumbo that will be cooked at the end of the day's run. All of the riders look forward to a live chicken! The farmer releases the chicken, and the riders chase the chicken and eventually catch it. It is a funny site to see the mostly drunken men chasing a live chicken all over t he farmyard! This small "parade" of men on horses go on a pre-selected route and they gather up ingredients for the gumbo. Some farmers offer, onions, some sausage, still others offer rice. At the end of the day, the tired riders enter back into town, mostly dead tired and drunk (after all an all day horse ride does take something out of you). When the riders are entering town, the join the back half of a parade that ends up at the festival grounds.

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