Levees Not War

This is a Carnival where you don’t have to say “Happy Mardi Gras” (tho’ we do, anyway)—it simply is a happy Mardi Gras, and everyone’s been in a crazy happy zone for weeks. People are changing their middle names to WhoDat. Maybe it’s ’cause “Breesus Saves,” and the rest of the Saints do, too. And “Hey Shockey Way.” And then too there’s a palpable relief that a popular new mayor has been elected to bring in energy and action where lethargy, passivity, absentia in officio, and lame excuses have held sway for lo these many years.

*

One of our writers penned a history of Mardi Gras for a Macmillan encyclopedia a few years ago while living in Mid-City and bouncing between the parades of the Krewe du Vieux, Isis, Endymion, Bacchus, Orpheus, and the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater into the Quarter on Mardi Gras day . . . Here are some excerpts from that article:

Mardi Gras . . . which many assume is a one-day event, has roots deep in pagan rites of ancient Greece, and is the “climax day” of a whole season of festivities—balls, parties, parades—that begins on Twelfth Night, or Epiphany (also known as January 6). Although the festival is most commonly associated with the Crescent City, the first American Mardi Gras was celebrated in Mobile, in present-day Alabama, in the 1830s (except it was really New Year’s Eve). . . .

(more…)

We prayed for a one-two punch of good news, and the Saints and the voters delivered (helped no doubt by the prayers of the nuns and priests in Saints owner Tom Benson’s posse). It is a delicious feeling of rejuvenation only four short years after the storm left us feeling devastated, unsure of the future. Now the nation and the world too are rejoicing for New Orleans and the Saints—everybody loves an underdog—and that too is a sweet thing. Not to downplay the significance of the Super Bowl triumph, but the first victory, Mitch Landrieu’s in the mayoral race on Saturday (66% of the vote), may turn out to be the most enduring consequence of this Super Weekend. We shall see. (Karen Dalton Beninato tweeted, “The New Orleans mayoral election is now on Superbowl Eve while we dodge 8 parades to vote. Only in New Orleans.”) We wish the new mayor and the amazing team and all their fans the best of luck—we’re with you. We know the city will have a Carnival season like no other, more turbocharged with joie de vivre than perhaps any Mardi Gras there’s ever been. (Fat Tuesday is Feb. 16: What a delirious week this will be.)

•  See Oyster’s commentary on the mayor’s race at Your Right Hand Thief.

•  Clay at NOLA-dishu points out in “Saints, Race, and Moon” that it’s no exaggeration to say we wouldn’t have the Saints without Moon Landrieu and others like him. (This legacy of racial liberalism helps explain why Moon’s son won 63% of the black vote.)

Super Bowl XLIV in Pictures