I know most of the people may have heard of the infamous “Mardi gras” festival of New Orleans. But I bet you haven’t heard of the Cajun Country Mardi gras festival known as “Courir de Mardi Gras” (roughly translates as “the run of the Mardi Gras”). This local festival is completely different from the New Orleans Mardi gras festival with all those beautiful floats, beads, masks, and rally. This is something definitely unique and people should definitely visit to see how it is celebrated locally in Louisiana. I know this year every festival is happening in a limited fashion. But as February is coming, which means Mardi Gras season is officially starting and I thought to write about this local Cajun style Mardi Gras festival for future reference. Save the information, know about the festival and may be next year if everything becomes normal, you can plan for it.
What is Courir de Mardi Gras?
Courir de Mardi Gras is generally occurred in different town throughout the central region of Louisiana. This festival is rooted in French medieval history. Like many other festivals, this one is brought to Louisiana in the nineteenth century. In Medieval France, after a long, hard winter town resident would knock the door to door asking for donations from the wealthy landowners, offering song and dance to express their gratitude. In order to conceal their identities, they used to dress in different costumes. Over time, these costumes have become more colorful and an important part of the festival. Though this tradition has evolved from time to time, place to place, still it is a blissful celebration of community and cultural value.
Unlike the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Courir de Mardi Gras has many traditions, rituals that only take place in the form of celebration on Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. If you are expecting beads, colorful floats, you will be quite disappointed. It’s more like traditional fun festival with friends and family and “chicken chasing” is the most fun part. Wait! Didn’t I tell you about it? Okay, let’s know more about the festival.
What happens during this traditional festival?
Once I had the opportunity to enjoy this festival. One of the many perks of being a photographer is that having local photographer friends who know about different local festival. As soon as I learned about this festival, I decided I would visit this local festival and the chance came sooner than expected. I went to Eunice for a whole day to enjoy this festival which is known as “the real Mardi Gras” by the local people. The festival starts the night before. I wish I knew about that. I spent a whole day; I did not have a costume and I enjoyed the whole thing as an outsider. But still it was fun to watch the whole festival. Next time I am going to join with a full preparation. To join the Mardi Gras, you have to wear a costume. The revelers make their own costumes from tattered, homemade fringe, old shirts, slacks, colorful rags and cover their faces with hand painted wire mesh masks. Each costume is different and unique in its own way. You can never go wrong with these colorful costumes.
The event starts with ‘begging’; you heard it right. Participants wear the costume and mask go from door to door on foot, trailer drawn by horses or tractors, or ride on horseback to perform the ritual ‘begging’ to imitate the ancient begging ritual. The celebrators sing, they dance, they entertain the people in exchange of different ingredients such as rice, vegetables, flour, etc. from house to house. The group is always lead by Capitaine or Captain, the Mardi Gras leader on horseback, who keep the group in line. They start their ritual early in the morning generally after a couple of beers. Sometimes a house owner throws a live chicken into the crowd and that’s when the real fun part, the highlight of the whole event ‘Chicken chase’ begins. The people on horseback try to catch the chicken with their bare hands and their drunken attempts make it more fun. You will never see anything like this! A bunch of people wearing colorful costumes are chasing are after a chicken and the crowd is getting crazy over a chicken chase.
Later they will make a big pot of gumbo, a Louisiana traditional food, with the ingredients they got from ‘begging’ and enjoy the feast altogether. Sometimes it’s may be less than hundreds and sometimes the number exceeds hundreds of people. So, you can imagine it’s a huge feast. Though the ‘running’ is the most fun and exciting part of the festival, it has many more aspects. Music is an integral part of the Cajun Mardi Gras. This full festival is full of colorful handmade costumes, traditional Mardi Gras songs, authentic food, dancing, laughter, and happiness. They drink, they eat, they run, and they enjoy the party together with family and friends. It’s nothing extravagant; more like traditional fun party with family and friends. In some of the towns, the revelers head out for a parade. By the end of the day, all revelers are almost spent and quite ready to start fasting.
If you are going to join the Mardi Gras festival next year or any upcoming years, don’t forget to make your own costumes, participate in the chicken run, dance with your full heart, and enjoy a little more.
Photography Credit: Tammy Heil and Mahdi Moinul
Reference / Source:
Guide to Cajun Mardi Gras (louisianatravel.com)
Visit the Cajun Courir de Mardi Gras outside Eunice, Louisiana (nationalgeographic.com)
History of Cajun Mardi Gras and the Chicken Chase (pelicanstateofmind.com)