This article originally written by Jane Shambra with the title "Mardi Gras: The fifth season of our year" for BNews Monthly, the monthly newsletter of the City of Biloxi. Photographs courtesy of the LHG Image Collection / Local History & Genealogy Department / Harrison County Library System unless otherwise specified.
Celebrations in Biloxi do not stop with Christmas and New Year’s. Once these holidays are over, the excitement begins for Mardi Gras, also known as Carnival season. The literal translation of Mardi Gras from the French language is actually “Fat Tuesday.” Mardi Gras is on a different date each year, depending on the solar skies. Always occurring on a Tuesday, the earliest Mardi Gras can be Feb. 3 and the latest March 9. This year Mardi Gras Day, or Fat Tuesday, will be February 13.
PHOTO - Duke Joseph William "Billy" Murray Jr. (left) and King Herbert James "Jimmy" Murray Jr. (right) of Biloxi's Krewe of Possum Neck in 1938.
The roots
We have proof that the first Mardi Gras was celebrated by none other than Sieur d’Iberville himself as he explored our sandy shores. In his journals, he writes that in March 1699 he paused from his travels, looked at his calendar, and realizing that it was Mardi Gras Day, his crew has its own party. Of course there were no floats, king cakes, or jazz music. Instead they paused for a brief recess in their journey, and dubbed their landing spot along the Mississippi River as “Pointe du Mardi Gras.”
How ‘Fat Tuesday’ came to be
Mardi Gras was actually based on a religious theme with celebrations beginning on or after the Twelfth Night and culminating the day before Lent, Ash Wednesday. Since Lent is a time of fasting, grand feasts were planned for that Tuesday, and French celebrations were accompanied with the bouef gras (fatted bull).
In earlier Biloxi parades, the Boeuf Gras float led the parade. Floats were pulled by horses and mules and were lit by flambeauxs. These European-based lighting devices were hand-held poled torches fed by petroleum with an attached reflector. Today’s floats are powered by trucks, which are accompanied by powerful generators that power high volume, music-blaring speakers or lights for nighttime parades.
PHOTO - Miss Blanche Picard, the first Queen Ixolib, back in 1908.
‘Throw me something, Mister’
Today, Biloxi parades include Kings, Queens, floats, marching bands, and throws. But, what are “throws”? Unlike parades in other parts of the world, Biloxi’s float riders shower enthusiastic crowds with tons of free trinkets and beads. Colorful and pearl-like beads, especially those thrown by royalty, are the most popular. Most of today’s beads are plastic, but in previous decades the beads were made of glass. Throws also include doubloons resembling pirates treasure, toys and food. If you’re lucky, you might catch the traditional Moon Pie treat, a round chocolate and marshmallow cake pie whose origin is traced back to Mobile, which, after Biloxi, was the second capital of the Louisiana Territory.
Ohhh, baby!
King Cakes (gateaux des rois) is certainly the food of the season. This delicacy is baked and consumed in abundance. Resembling a cinnamon roll or French brioche, this circular or oval-shaped pastry, topped with glistening purple, green, and yellow icing, has a magnificent European history. Buried like treasure inside each cake was either a large bean, a porcelain doll (a frozen Charlotte), or a plastic baby doll. Tradition has it that whomever gets the piece of cake containing the “treasure” is crowned as the king/queen, chooses his accompanying king/queen, and hosts the next King Cake party.
PHOTO - The ubiquitous Barq's float on parade in 1950.
The colors of Mardi Gras
Just as green and red carry on the Christmas theme, purple, green, and gold are always representative of the Mardi Gras season. Green is for faith, purple is for justice, and gold is for power. In keeping with the Cajun French vocabulary, “laissez les bon temps rouler” (pronounced “Lay-say le bon tom roo-lay”), which means “let the good times roll.”
We can help you get cookin’
Planning a get-together this Mardi Gras season or maybe even a traditional meatless Friday supper following Fat Tuesday? Stop by the Biloxi Local History and Genealogy Department on Howard Avenue and browse through its marvelous collection of cookbooks where you can find delectable recipes reminding us of Grandma’s kitchen: red beans and rice; jambalaya, crab cakes, gumbo and potato salad, shrimp and grits (made with Gulf shrimp from Biloxi Shrimp Co.!), and the list goes on and on. Yum!
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