New Athenaeum Post

Cajun Mardi Gras

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2013/02/cajun-mardi-gras.html

Comments

[Dave Williams]

Damn fine gumbo recipe, Maureen. Thanks for posting. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

[Fred]

I second the recipe kudos. I think Ill give this one a try even though I'll have a hard time finding blue crab and decent shrimp in Michigan. Fine music too!

[The Twisted Genius]

Thank you, Maureen. I found the music, photos and even the pencil sketch hauntingly foreign and exotic. For someone at ease in Timbuktu, that quite a feat. I found this description on the NPR site:
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In southwest Louisiana, disguises are part of another Fat Tuesday practice — the rural Mardi Gras run or "Courir de Mardi Gras." It's a Cajun tradition that evokes French medieval customs. Revelers go door to door, collecting live chickens and other ingredients for a communal gumbo.

"Led by a flag-bearing capitaine, this colorful and noisy procession of masked and costumed men on horses and wagons go from house to house in the countryside asking for charity in return for a performance of dancing and buffoonery," writes Pat Mire of the Louisiana Folklife Program.

Once the team has chased enough chickens to fill enough pots to feed the town, the gumbo feast is on. Dancing, singing and a bit of drinking ensue. One of the more colorful "Courir de Mardis Gras" is found in the town of Mamou, La., in Evangeline Parish.

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/12/171713632/mardi-gras-merriment-beyond-bourbon-street-festivities