MARDI GRAS – KREWES

Rolling with my Krewe

All the day long Joie de Vive

Life is very good

Remember I went to the talk last week “Mardi Gras in the South” by the King & Queen and members from Krewe Du Cirque?

I blogged about King Cakes.

Today it’s about Krewes.

So what exactly is a Krewe.

The fanciful spelling of crew is a fabricated term for a Mardi Gras organization. Coined by Comus, a New Orleans Carnival organization, it simulates Old English. Krewe names at first were drawn from Roman, Greek, Norse or Egyptian mythology. A krewe is a group of people who get together to party during Mardi Gras, and faithfully uphold the party spirit throughout the year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krewe

Bits of information I gained from the talk.

• You normally have to know someone to get into a Krewe. Krewes are a secret society. They don’t advertise. Some Krewes have open membership but most require a member invite, and have long waiting lists. (The Queen from here said she’d been trying for years to get an invite to the a particular Krewe in New Orleans but so far no luck.)
• You don’t have to live in the city to belong to a Krewe. The local Queen said she also belongs to a Krewe in New Orleans.
• Krewes are non-profits, not businesses. They don’t make money. They’re required to do community service during the year to earn their right to parade through the city. And they pay dues.
• Krewe yearly membership dues: some are relatively inexpensive but others can be upwards of $50,000. Membership dues are vital because they need funds to pay for parade permits, building, security, police details, as well as maintaining and storing their title float and their annual Ball. Not all Krewes have their own parade. Some join other’s parades.
• Most Krewes require their members, in addition to their dues, to make or purchase their own costumes and buy what they toss during the parades.
• Mardi Gras Krewes have royalty.
• Each year a new Queen is chosen. (If they choose for energy and vivaciousness then this Queen fit the bill. She was a ball of energy.) One of the queen’s duties is choosing the theme for the ball. Our local queen chose Alice in Wonderland for her theme. The primary responsibility of Mardi Gras Ball Royalty is to represent the Krewe with appropriate levels of Joie de Vivre.

From the Mardi Gras talk.

I absolutely loved the tv show Treme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treme_(TV_series) so I had to use its opening music. If you ever get the chance to see the show, do. Especially if you like New Orleans music.

Treme Theme Song

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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