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A New Orleans Tradition for Generations
To Ye Mistick Krewe –
GREETINGS!
WHEREAS, War has cast its gloom over our happy homes and care usurped the place where joy is wont to hold its sway. Now, therefore, do I deeply sympathizing with the general anxiety, deem it proper to withhold your Annual Festival in this goodly Crescent City and by this proclamation do command no assemblage of the
-MISTICK KREWE-
Given under my hand this, the 1st day of March A.D. 1862. COMUS
New Orleans Daily Picayune, 1862
Left: 1858
What is interesting about Mardi Gras is that many people do not realize how deeply rooted it is in Catholic tradition. New Orleans is a Catholic city. The day of Mardi Gras is determined by what day Easter falls on during that particular year. Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after a full moon after the Spring Equinox. The Spring Equinox is when the day and the night are of equal length, whereas a Solstice is when the day is either the longest or the shortest of the year.
Right: 1866
Mardi Gras occurs on "Fat Tuesday" or "Shrove Tuesday", the day before Ash Wednesday, which is 40 weekdays (excluding Sundays) before Easter. One of the symbolisms associated with the 40 days is that Christ spent 40 days in the wilderness.
Left: 1872
From Ash Wednesday until Easter, Catholics observe Lent. Mardi Gras has been described to me in the past as the "last hurrah" before a time of prayer and restraint and a time of spiritual preparation for Easter.
Right: 1880
Because the Mayfairs are a Catholic family, all of these dates and observances are important to them. The banquet that Michael allows for Mardi Gras despite Rowan's absence is large enough to feed the entire family. Couple that with Gifford's avoidance of the family during Mardi Gras and her anxiousness to have the ashes on her forehead at the start of Lent, and you've got a very good snapshot of the depth of the family's Catholic faith.
Left: 1912
The Mistick Krewe of Comus on Wikipedia
Mardi Gras: The Krewes and Parades
A Moment For New Orleans
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Unfortunately, 2025 had a very tragic beginning in New Orleans.
Fourteen people (fifteen if you include the driver) lost their lives in the early morning hours of January 1, 2025 when a pickup truck was driven into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans' French Quarter. More than thirty people were injured, including police officers.
To the families and friends of the victims of this horrific attack, the survivors, their families and friends, and the city of New Orleans, know that the world grieves with you for the loved ones you lost, and is with you as you begin the process of healing while honoring those who you've lost.
Evil will not win. New Orleans will. This unique and special city has given us so much and shown so much hospitality to so many over its history. Let's return kindness for kindness.