Traditions
People escape from ordinary life through the alcohol and the roles they portray in costume. In the early morning the riders or runners or Mardi Gras (as the troop and its individual members are known) gather in a central meeting place. As they gather, Le Capitaine (the leader of the Mardi Gras) and his co-capitaines explain the rules and traditions that must be followed. The Capitaine usually rides on horseback, wears a cape and carries a small flag. After he organizes the troop, the bands begin to play and he leads them on the route. Traditions vary in each town with the way it is carried out. Some towns have people on horse back, some on trailers and some on foot, and others use a variation of all three methods. The Capitaine is the first to approach the houses along the route, to ask permission to enter onto their property. At this point, in the spirit of frivolity, individual Mardi Gras will attempt to sneak onto the property. They are held in check by the Capitaines, who sometimes brandish a plaited burlap whip.
| “ | These whips are used to maintain discipline during the courir de Mardi Gras (Mardi Gras run.) They are used by the captain and his subordinates only' | ” |
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—-Claude Durio, Co-capitaine for the Tee Mamou courir |
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The whips are designed to be flexible and not to inflict any serious damage onto their victims, but do produce a loud noise for the edification of onlookers. Participants claim one has not fully participated until one has been whipped. Once they are on the property, the revelers play a variety of pranks on the farmers and beg for food for the communal gumbo that lies at the end of the route. A prize ingredient is a live chicken, which is usually thrown into the air for the drunken Mardi Gras to chase through the muddy yards and fields.
Read more about this topic: Courir De Mardi Gras
Famous quotes containing the word traditions:
“And all the great traditions of the Past
They saw reflected in the coming time.
And thus forever with reverted look
The mystic volume of the world they read,
Spelling it backward, like a Hebrew book,
Till life became a Legend of the Dead.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Napoleon never wished to be justified. He killed his enemy according to Corsican traditions [le droit corse] and if he sometimes regretted his mistake, he never understood that it had been a crime.”
—Guillaume-Prosper, Baron De Barante (1782–1866)
“But generally speaking philistinism presupposes a certain advanced state of civilization where throughout the ages certain traditions have accumulated in a heap and have started to stink.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)