I have always heard stories about Mardi Gras: the beads, the parades, and the ongoing alcohol consumption that takes place for the first part of month. I understood the sequence of Mardi Gras, the buildup of Fat Tuesday in anticipation to Ash Wednesday, but never would I imagine myself celebrating it in New Orleans, in the heart of it all. People told me that you have to experience Mardi Gras at some point in your lifetime, but that just once is enough. They warned me of the dangerous activity that goes on in New Orleans, especially during Mardi Gras, and offered several pieces of advice such as being careful of my belongings by storing money in closed pockets and even in my shoes, sticking with your group, and walking down Bourbon Street early in the day as it will get more and more crowded as the day progresses. Those who had experienced it before shared with me their perceptions of the costumes, music and other festivities that they had witnessed. I came into New Orleans on the morning of February 20th with these expectations, but I knew that I had to see it for myself, and that what I saw would be different and unique from those around me. Similar to my experience here in the Gulf Coast and with Hurricane Katrina, I couldn’t understand these things in their entirety until I was there to see it first hand.
My favorite part of Mardi Gras was seeing people in their costumes and watching the way people interact. I loved seeing some of the creative and clever costumes people came up with and was amazed by the courage people had to wear them in public, young and old alike. For the day, people could mask their identity and become anyone or anything they wished to be. There was an overall sense of happiness that I could see across people’s faces, whether they were taking and posing for pictures, jumping for beads, dancing in the street, or walking and watching from a spectator’s point of view. After the parades the streets filled with people and a walking parade took part in Jackson Square. There was suddenly a heightened feeling of excitement and energy. I enjoyed this parade, perhaps more than the main parades, because I could see people genuinely having a good time, enjoying the company of others despite many being strangers, and putting up a worry free front. I liked that there was something different happening on every block of the French Quarter, but at the same time, everyone was united by a common interest.
Being my first time at Mardi Gras, I cannot accurately compare this year to previous years, however, I got the feeling that the number of people there was not yet up to what it used to be before Hurricane Katrina. I had been told from a man who was once a New Orleans resident and experienced Mardi Gras participant, that Bourbon Street was usually densely packed and almost impossible to travel from one end to the other by the middle of the day. Surprisingly, we were able to navigate our way through with considerable ease. The outskirts of the French Quarter still show evidence of the devastation, however the culture of New Orleans continues to thrive, indicating that the recovery process is not complete, but certainly a work in progress.