Mardi-Gras in New Orleans--Strange Procession, Daily Dispatch (Article, 1860)
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Mardi-Gras in New Orleans--Strange Procession.
This celebration, peculiar, in this country to New Orleans, came off there last week. A letter gives an interesting description of the scenes, which will be new to our readers:
Fitful gusts of wind and rain during the entire morning seriously interfered with the street sports, but as the clouds broke away in the afternoon, throngs of masqued personages, costumed in every conceivable manner, poured along the thoroughfares. Troops of wild Indians dashed about on horseback; negros, clowns and knights, similarly mounted, followed in their wake. Women stalked about attired as men, and men unsexed themselves of their proper garments to don the crinoline. It was a glorious time for abandoness, the richer portion of whom clattered along in carriages while their poorer sisters draggled on foot through the sloppy streets. The vulgar and depraved of our city had the monopoly of its license, and in this one day's freedom of the town could alleviate a figment of their wretchedness; even a "pillar of the Church" could forgive the nonsense of Mardi-Gras.
The great and only commendable feature of the occasion was the procession of the Mystick Krewe of Comus at night. It is well known that our richest and most influential citizens are members of this Order, but so admirably is each brother's identity disguised that it is impossible to point out any well known individual and say with certainty, thou art the man! It is pretty well ascertained, from the above fact, that none of the feminine gender have as yet been initiated. Hours before the procession had started every available book was occupied; the streets were like bee-hives alive with the multitude; the balconies and windows swarmed with belles creoles; upon the steps and about the columns of the public buildings were perfect rookeries of curious little boys. Finally, a brilliant light shot athwart the buildings on Canal street, which gradually grew into a blaze of torches and Roman candles. A tremendous huzzah surged up from the enthusiastic mass of spectators as the Eleusinian Brotherhood came in sight.
In front rode a Marshal, tastefully decorated. On the first car was borne an Egyptian pyramid, with an inscription explanatory of the subjects represented in the pageant, viz: The Great Man of Our Country. Separate cars bore along living effigies of Columbus, De Soto, Bienville, Wm. Penn Hendrick Hudson, Washington, Jackson and Clay, Calhoun and Webster. The Knights of De Soto followed behind his car afoot, and likewise afoot behind the car of Wm. Penn stalked the braves of Powhatan. Each character was the fac simile of a marble statue of the original, plaster cast of the features of the departed great; it was like a resurrection of the sheeted dead, as the garish light of the flambeaux flooded the procession with haloes and sharply and clearly defined the lineaments of those who live in glory and in song.
After parading the principal streets, the Mystick Krewe entered the Varieties Theatre, where, with appropriate music and scenery, a variety of tableaux was produced, descriptive of our earlier and later history, such as Columbus discovering America, De Soto's discovery of the Father of Waters, Pocahontas saving the life of Smith. Landing of the Pilgrims, [etc.] The Theatre was crowded from pit to dome with a vast concourse of the beauty, wit and wealth of New Orleans, and the festivities were wound up by a brilliant dance--the savage and hero of old time waltzing with the "ripe and real" daughters of the South. Merriment was rampant throughout the night, with masked-balls within doors and frolicsome gambols without. Altogether, Mardi-Gras in New Orleans is a sight worth seeing, although the next day is Ash-Wednesday--with its ashes.
