MARDI GRAS

[Murfreesboro]

I agree. Our niece is a very well-behaved young woman, and she loves New Orleans, where she went to college. She is very experienced with Mardi Gras. I'm sure there are many areas where people can have a good time without doing anything they would be ashamed to remember.

I guess most people know that the "krewes" that put on the various parades are very social, I mean, in a high-society kind of way. People have to be born into them, have to have family members, ancestors, who participated. My understanding is that you can't even marry into them. That is, you can, but you yourself would never be allowed to participate, only your children, because of their ancestry on the other side of the house. This is a source of great family pride down there. So it isn't just all about puking-in-the-street drunks.

[Li H'Sen Chang]

Is there also a lot of drug used at Mardi Gras to go with the drunk beer and alcohol people?

[Murfreesboro]

Not having been there myself at that time, I wouldn't know. But I wouldn't be shocked to hear that. After all, people who are turned that way use illegal drugs anytime, not just at Mardi Gras.

[jadewik]

I've heard the parades and things are very kid-friendly-- they start weeks prior to "the big day", according to what I read in Weird Louisiana-- I also spoke to some extended family who had visited relatives who had lived in Louisiana. They said to avoid the bars and you're fine. The only thing I've heard from a resident is to avoid standing under an overpass during the parades-- the bands LOVE to play louder because it echos and little kids love to scream because of the echo.

Technically, every city has the bad element... is there a particular street you avoid in your hometown at night? Are there places where drug use is more predominant? Of course there are! The trick is to avoid those people and those places... It's like they say in Rugby-- you don't need a helmet if you're not putting your head where it shouldn't be!

Avoid the city altogether or not... just don't tell me where I can and can't go to enjoy myself. *wink* I was in New Orleans for 10 days and I had a blast! ... so did my mom, and she was COMPLETELY paranoid before we went!

[Li H'Sen Chang]

Did you ever see horror mobvie Hatchet that was from New Orleans? They say there is a lot of haunted stuff to do there which is what I would like to enjoy if I ever went to there. Not the drunk though because I hate it.

[Murfreesboro]

I haven't seen that one, but New Orleans is a very haunted city for sure! If you ever go there, look up a ghost tour.

[Li H'Sen Chang]

The grave yard are all built with dead bodies above ground in buildings so it is easy for ghost to escape into the air.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Don't get me wrong. I would never advise anyone not to attend Mardi Gras. On the contrary, if that's what you like, go for it. I just don't like huge crowds, because I allways am unlucky enough to meet up with the wrong element of people, like I did at the South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade. I was threatened and I was not doing anything wrong, or was on the "bad" side of town. I was on the main thourghofare, which was 111th street near Kedsie Avenue, and these drunken dunder heads started threatening me because they thought I taught at Brother Rice high school, and they were alums of Marist high school and figured that they had an esclusive right to be on 111th street on St. Patrick's Day.

You can run into peole like that anywhere at any time, but it's more likely to happen when there are huge crowds, because there are so many more people. I supposed if I could go to Mardi Gras or Taste of Chicago with a group of people who I know, then I might try it once. Especialy Mardi Gras, because I love the music, but I woldnt go to something like that alone. I prefer to vacation alone, but an event like Mardi Gras, I wouldn't want to be.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I've never been to Mardi Gras, so I don't really know how much I would like it. I have been to New Orleans, though, and would love to go again.

When I was a teenager (early '70s) I had a good friend who went down there for Mardi Gras and came home with a lot of beads, which she distributed to several of her girlfriends. Years later I heard that girls have to take off their tops to get those beads, but I don't believe my friend did that (I just don't think she was the type). I think it maybe has gotten rougher and cruder over time.

[jadewik]

... we came home with 3 bags of beads that we bought at one of the shops. They're all over the place to purchase-- same with masks.

[Spookymufu]

... we came home with 3 bags of beads that we bought at one of the shops. They're all over the place to purchase-- same with masks.

uh huh..purchased....sure *wink wink*

[Pumpkin_Man]

Murf, that rumor came from "Jerry Beads." That was a practice that was common on "The Jerry Springer" show. Which IMHO was a very crude show. Anyway, if a woman wanted to ger her "Jerry Beads," she would do just what you described about removing her top," and Jerry would hand her a string of beads very simular to the ones sold at Mardi Gras.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I didn't know that. I am glad to know that the Mardi Gras beads down in NOLA can be obtained in other ways.

[Pumpkin_Man]

You could probably order those Mardi Gras beads on line. Just do a google search. You only have to "strut your stuff" for Jerry Springer Beads.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I bet you are right. You can get anything on line.

ETA: BTW, I just Googled a site about Mardi Gras, and the person answering questions (evidently a local) said that the parades and festivities don't even happen in the French Quarter. They are happening everywhere else in New Orleans, but not there. The writer said that tourists, especially college kids on break, will get drunk after the parades and go into the French Quarter, where some of them might do the topless thing for beads, etc., but this is not authentic New Orleans tradition. The writer also warned women, especially, not to go onto Bourbon Street after the parades, because too many people there are looking for the kind of risque behavior they think they will find, and they assume every woman there will be willing to strip, etc. So the take-away from this article is that you don't go into the French Quarter (especially not Bourbon Street) late at night during Carnival Season. The authentic Mardi Gras celebrations are not happening there, anyway.