Talk:Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Regarding Colors
I am reading a book called "KREWE: The early New Orleans Carnival: Comus to Zulu" by Errol Laborde. 2007 Carnival Press. Laborde debunks the myth that the colors had anything to do with the Duke, as is suggested in this Wikipedia article. He Claims that the orgin of the purple gold and green (not purple green and gold) is based on Heraldry. He suggests that Rex stated the orgins of the colors, half a century later in order strengthen the myth.

Someone should read this book and change or expand the color section in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.129.155.253 (talk) 02:11, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Just moved this into article space from my user space -- Infrogmation 13:50, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Re: Krewe de Vieux as "marker" starting season.

I sort of question using Krewe de Vieux as some sort of marker that starts the season. (I've never been to it - isn't it a walking parade?) I have always thought the first "marker" is the Saturday parades (Pontchartrain, Shangri-La, etc.) that parade uptown. Just an opinion. rrrich7 03:20, 10 Jan 2004

Krewe du Vieux is traditionally the first parade.
 * The 1st parade every year and for the past 30 or so years I've lived in NOLA has been the Phunny Phorty Phellows as they parade on 12th night to open the carnival season. L0b0t 12:27, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Growing up, I seem to remember that the Slidell parade was the first parade of the season, 3 weeks before Mardi Gras itself. That's also the first one listed on nola.com. (Anonymous Coward, 1015 23 Feb 2009 (UTC))

Commercial links
Okay so what's going on with the New Orleans Mardi Gras contribution? It seems to be a bit "clickish" very much resembling the Mardi Gras click sites around the web. We did everything by the book referring to the talk page which had NO, ZERO, NADA info concerning contributions that had been made, plans for the future or anything, period. We made a very legitimate contribution that was deleted without any explanation or discussion as ya'll like to call it here on Wikipedia. I also noticed that nola.com's link was removed, and if anyone has claims to promoting Mardi Gras in this city, it should be them. Further more half of the people making contributions to this section don't even live in this city but are only doing so to further promote their weak at best sites.

Admin wherever you may be, I implore you to get a grasp of this section of Wikipedia as it seems there is a bit of dictatorship going on which in essence is killing the whole spirit of what Wikipedia should be. I understand ya'll all have a great interest in Mardi Gras whether it is finical or other wise but to blantly try to push out new sites who have ligament contributions just sums up the clickish cut throat nature of some in the Mardi Gras industry. It is mighty funny that the "Mardi Gras" contribution has massive amounts of discussion pertaing to contributions on it's talk page but "Mardi Gras New Orleans" had none. I bet that was deleted too? So let me be the first to open the discussion on whether the following is acceptable to this contribution or not. Ceramic Mardi Gras Mask Ceramic Mardi Gras Masks are unique and original pieces of art work from New Orleans. The Fancy Ceramic Mardi Gras Masks are usually poured, sculpted, and handpainted by many native artists in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ceramic Mardi Gras masks are usually designed to be displayed as decorations and are not generally worn as face mask. They are almost as old as Mardi Gras itself and although not part of a costume, they have been handed out at balls and some of the earlier works signed "Sally New Orleans" are some of the most sought after collectibles on the web. Of course this will be cleaned up to contain links to other Wikipedia reference contributions but I think you should get the picture of the direction we are trying to go with this contribution, which was so blantly deleted. I wonder if the user who deleted nola.com's contribution got a message from the admin as well? I somehow doubt it. We also made a contribution for "Mardi Gras 2007" which was original and not yet contributed in any way, which contained links to the "Mardi Gras New Orleans" contributions and this was deleted as well. The click has been busy. So ADMIN wherever you may be and correct me if I am wrong but I think one of the contributors to this section has found their way into the admin area, although a conflict of interest, please keep an open mind when reading our comments but this has been an ongoing problem with the Mardi Gras "click" for some time. It is mighty funny that we made another contributions to an unrelated Mardi Gras item and it has not been deleted, bumped, etc, etc. Hmmmm...why does it have to be so conserveral when it comes to Mardi Gras. I can only suspect that the "MG click" has had a hand in it. This is exactly the sort of thing that gives New Orleans Mardi Gras a bad name. Les Bon Temps Roulez!--Nolaimports 04:26, 28 August 2006 (UTC)Nolaimports


 * As has been explained on your user talk page at User talk:Nolaimports, using Wikipedia to promote a commerical business is contrary to Wikipedia policies. So you certainly were not doing things "by the book"; every edit of yours promoting your business (which was every article edit of yours I've seen) has been in violation of Wikipedia policy. Please take time to read the first 4 articles which Armadillo posted on your talk page. -- Infrogmation 11:03, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

-
 * This is the contribution we would like to add:

"Ceramic Mardi Gras Mask Ceramic Mardi Gras Masks are unique and original pieces of art work from New Orleans. The Fancy Ceramic Mardi Gras Masks are usually poured, sculpted, and handpainted by many native artists in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ceramic Mardi Gras masks are usually designed to be displayed as decorations and are not generally worn as face mask. They are almost as old as Mardi Gras itself and although not part of a costume, they have been handed out at balls and some of the earlier works signed "Sally New Orleans" are some of the most sought after collectibles on the web."

Someone please tell us how to do it. If it is acceptable. I also have some original pictures I would like to add but I assume that is a no go too.--Nolaimports 18:43, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * The ceramic masks are not really a Mardi Gras thing but more of a chintzy tourist thing. This would be akin to wasting a section in the New York City article on Empire State Building thermometers or I heart NY mugs.L0b0t 12:15, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh, I forgot to mention that these ceramic masks are available in almost every little tourist trap in almost every city in America.L0b0t 12:17, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Krewe du Vieux
Admin Infrogmation, I gather you are a member of KDV? I notice that KDV receives a number of by-name mentions in various Mardi Gras-related entries. I haven't done a count, but it seems KDV receives more attention than a number of larger/older/more prominent organizations. I don't have anything against KDV, but an outside reader would likely be misled to concluding KDV plays a more prominent role than it really does. I'm not here to start a fight, simply to pose an honest question as to whether KDV gets relatively greater mention than is warranted. For the record, I am a lifelong New Orleanian.

P.S. I completely agree with the admins about the ceramic masks. It's a tourist thing.


 * This article needs work. What about the Krewes of Comus, Momus, & Proteus? Everyone knows Rex,real name(School of Design)and Zulu. Other social clubs well? What about the Old men of Illinois or the Young men of Illinois? Did you know they every Mystic Krewe has a corresponding exclusive club? What about the high society ball? Also in dealing with nudity on Bourbon Street, did anyone happen to mention after reconstruction that the street degenerated into a Brothels with prostitues.(Prior to the Civil War is was the wealthiest street in the Vieux Carre) As for now the nudity on the most part seems to be from tourist college girls who do whatever they want away from home. They should also be a section about how the toruist behave badly. As for images can't anyone do better than the ones found? Is this a toruist article?--Margrave1206 (talk) 16:30, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Just my 2 cents
The Mardi Gras mask were probably a bad example of the areas not covered in this very narrowed view of N.O. mardi gras. At least I'm not the only one that has noticed it. One could argue that areas such as public urination, pick pockets, religious originations picketing the event, and on and on etc., etc., are not given their just do. Also the commercial links seem to change depending on the time of day you visit. humm... Wheres the discussion on those actions? What else seems funny, is the main body of the content seems to change without discussion, It just mysteriously changes. A outside admin could easily check this out. It's very obvious that there are "special interest" at work here on wkipedia. I think that staying in a town after one too many frat parties does not make one an expert on anything New Orleans .Yea, there's big problems here and serious need of "outside" mediation.

Thanks! "N.O. Native" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.230.236.242 (talk)


 * We should also touch on Mardi Gras 1971 when the police were on strike and law enforcement was handled by the National Guard. The NG were ordered only to act against property crime and crimes of violence; sex and dope in the streets and the best Mardi Gras ever.  Cheers. L0b0t 19:43, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

King cake
The article states that the traditional king cake is the braided coffee-cake style. Isn't the "traditional" king-cake the French custard cake, with the coffee-cake style being a New Orleans twist (pardon the pun)? L0b0t 04:36, 13 February 2007 (UTC)


 * At this point, King Cake is more of a New Orleans tradition than it is a French one. Further, KC often comes filled with various things, the most popular being Creole Cream Cheese, which is really a harder, sweeter custard.

To this New Orleans native, filled KCs are something created in the 1980's or 1990's. Purists still consider plain KC the only real deal. And doesn't custard have to have eggs in it to be custard? Creole cream cheese has no eggs.rich 02:24, 30 April 2007 (UTC)


 * No, not the Creole cream cheese. The French King Cakes, the ones that are like a large custard tart.  They spoil within a day or two so you have to eat them at once.K1ng l0v3 05:58, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Nudity outside of FQ
the article says "nudity outside of the FQ" is "discouraged". i would change that to "unheard of" or "rare".rich 04:21, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

As a resident of the New Orleans area, I'd you're right. Mostly nudity is fairly restricted to tourists in the french quarter. Try it outside of the quarter and you'll get handcuffs on so fast you won't even see where they came from. --71.81.57.27 (talk) 11:30, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

On Mardi Gras day, I normally went to the Metairie parades and stationed near Lakeside on Severn. There was the occasional flashing/nudity without any arrests. It was still very uncommon, but not quite rare/unheard. This may have changed drastically in the 5 years since I've moved away from home, but I can recall it happening in both the 80s and 90s. -- Anonymous Coward 2009-05-01 11:08 UTC.

Deletions regarding Rex parade
The reference to the first Rex being known only as "Mr. Halliday" is inaccurate. The first Rex is identified at the organization's website as Louis Solomon. In addition, the statement that Rex has paraded every year since 1872 is also inaccurate, since parades were cancelled in times of war (WW1, WW2) and also during the police strike in the 1970s. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.11.47.167 (talk) 06:24, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Quite right, thanks for the edit. -- Infrogmation (talk) 17:55, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Mardi Gras Parade Template
Does anyone want to help with the Mardi Gras Parade template? It's here: Template:Mardi Gras in New Orleans There needs to be more krewes in the template, and there is probably a better way of categorizing the krewes. If you want to expand the template to be about the whole Mardi Gras in New Orleans too, please do. Bib (talk) 15:27, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Krewe de Viuex is new is it not? What about the 12th Night Revelers?
Twelfth Night Revelers: traditional "kick-off" to the Carnival Season since 1870. Krewes of New Orleans & Clubs of New Orleans --Margrave1206 (talk) 17:20, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Copy edit
Good hello, I've tagged the article for copy editing. The section on Katrina's effect is a very clunky read and could use a thorough going over. Cheers. L0b0t (talk) 01:30, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

reporting apparent vandalism
98.201.24.136 (talk) 17:38, 19 February 2009 (UTC) Not sure of the proper way to report this. In the section titled Mardi Gras, I see this text: "And to your right youll see a chick ridin a big azz cigar that suspiciously looks like a huge cock." next to the Bill Clinton art. But I don't see that text when I try to go in to edit it out.
 * Yep, that was vandalism that was in the article for a very short time before reverted. -- Infrogmation (talk) 19:15, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Nudity illegal during new orleans mardi gras
According to what I see on the TV program "Cops", any type of nudity and lewd conduct, including women flashing their breasts and women and men dropping their pants and showing their genitals, is totally illegal in New Orleans, including and especially during Mardi Gras, and as far as I know, during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, nudity and lewd conduct is illegal all over the entire French quarter, including Bourbon street, and is one of the quickest and surest ways to get arrested and thrown in jail. And on "cops" ('Mardi Gras'), I have seen too many men and way too many women getting arrested and going to jail for flashing their breasts and/or dropping their pants at Mardi Gras in New Orleans for the current content in the "nudity" section of the main article to stay as is. Also, for more proof of it, the separate sessions on all "Cops" episodes labeled "Mardi Gras," will usually show and broadcast the police chiefs and captains at the headquarters saying to their fellow officers that "if you see a female showing her breasts, give her one warning only, and if she does it again, she goes to jail. Anything below the waist is zero tolerance and if anyone, male or female, drops their pants, they will automatically go to jail, no warnings." Fishing4327 (talk) 03:20, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * One must remember, however, that COPS is edited to look a lot more sensationalist and dramatic than it really is. As a long time (15+ years) Vieux Carre resident I can tell you that the nudity, while illegal, is treated very much on a "case-by-case" basis and tolerated far more in the 1/4 than in any other spot in the city.  For the officers that work Bourbon Promenade (the French 1/4 detail) public safety is the main concern not public morals and arrests for flashing are almost always made to get the crowds to break up and move along (thereby cutting opportunities for pickpockets and increasing traffic flow for merchants.)  The surest way to be a guest of the Orleans Parrish Prison is to be caught fighting or stealing not flashing. The city also has a fun policy of setting the bond for out-of-state residents very high and scheduling their court dates 6 months or so in the future in hopes that the person will just return to their home state and forfeit their bond (the city would rather have the money than pay for a trial.)  Cheers. L0b0t (talk) 11:15, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Date of Twelfth Night
This article currently says "The New Orleans Carnival season ... starts on Epiphany or Twelfth Night (January 6)." Epiphany is January 6 right enough, but 12th night is surely the evening of January 5? (That is what the Twelfth Night (holiday) article says, in fact.) I can't correct this error myself as I know nothing of Mardis Gras: When does the carnival season start? Is it on 12th Night (January 5), or is it on January 6? Please could somebody who knows fix this ambiguity. Thank you GrahamN (talk) 20:51, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
 * The traditional start of Carnival in New Orleans is indeed the evening of 6 January. I don't know if it is counted differently elsewhere, nor why. -- Infrogmation (talk) 23:57, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Mardi Gras
Mardi gras (also known as Shove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday) is the last day of the period known as the Festival of Carnival. Mardi Gras falls between Febuary the 3rd and March the 9th. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.154.15.188 (talk) 09:07, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

This doesn't belong in the intro
" Exposing body parts, or "flashing", in an effort to catch more beads or throws, is frowned up by the police department and can be grounds for a ticket or an arrest. Though it is a growing trend for uninhibited, mostly younger women to show their breasts, centered in New Orleans and echoed in smaller celebrations in such places as Austin, Texas, this practice mostly only takes place on and around Bourbon Street in the French Quarter."

Hell, it doesn't even belong in the article. If it's not vandalism, then it's certainly the work of a moron.69.250.147.209 (talk) 13:45, 13 February 2013 (UTC)stealstrash

This is the article for New Orleans Mardi Gras, not Mobile's, right?
There are mentions of Mobile's Mardi Gras throughout this article that seem to be purely an attempt to make their Mardi Gras seem superior. For instance, immediately after the description of Mardi Gras ending at midnight in New Orleans, a single line is inserted reading: "There is no set end to Mobile's Mardi Gras festivities other than your own stamina." Why is this necessary? Or this: "Celebrations in both cities begin early on Mardi Gras Day, but only Mobile's traditional schedule is consistent enough to avoid gaps in the season caused by starting it too early." Seriously? This is completely inappropriate, especially considering there is already a page specifically about Mobile's Mardi Gras celebrations. As such, I am removing all mentions of Mobile in the article except mentions in the history section which are relevant to New Orleans Mardi Gras. I'm doing this manually instead of through the undos because I can't find the specific edits in the history. I know Mobile natives like to trash New Orlean's celebrations but this is a really immature way to do it. At best, it seems the most appropriate place to mention Mobile's Mardi Gras would be under a "See Also" section. Joshisanonymous (talk) 21:27, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

Curious to help on this article. What can I do to help?
I'm interested to help on this page. Images, research and content are examples of what I can help with. Feel free to reply here or post on my Talk page. Writejustified (talk) 20:11, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

Is there no other Mardi Gras?
Apparently there's no article about Mardi Gras. There's Mardi Gras in Galveston, Rio and all over South and Central America, and other places around the globe. Where is a general article on that? 74.100.137.109 (talk) 17:17, 10 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Mardi Gras? Carnaval? ViperSnake151   Talk  17:32, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 20 July 2017

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: Move. Cúchullain t/ c 14:56, 28 July 2017 (UTC)

New Orleans Mardi Gras → Mardi Gras in New Orleans – Consistency with similar articles; why is this singled out as a title rather than a description? ViperSnake151  Talk  21:02, 20 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Support. Either title works, but consistency can be established with Mardi Gras in the United States, Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, and, most importantly, Category:Mardi Gras in New Orleans; also, Carnival of Venice. No such user (talk) 10:04, 21 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Support per nominator and No Such User. ╠╣uw [ talk ]  13:47, 21 July 2017 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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1898 Images
The NYT published a few stills from an 1898 film of Mardi Gras. These should be in the public domain and might be of use here. Sizeofint (talk) 17:55, 30 June 2022 (UTC)