Carnival Kicks Off in New Orleans with Phunny Phorty Phellows, King Cakes, Joan of Arc Parade

NEW ORLEANS– The countdown to Mardi Gras begins Saturday in New Orleans as the carnival season kicks off with dozens of costumed revelers and a marching band set to crowd onto a streetcar for a nighttime ride down historic St. Charles Avenue. Meanwhile, a walking club in the French Quarter will march in its annual procession in honor of Joan of Arc.

Although a secular celebration, Carnival in New Orleans – and around the world – is strongly tied to Christian and Roman Catholic traditions. The season begins on January 6, the 12th day after Christmas, and continues until Mardi Gras, known as Fat Tuesday, the last day of feasting, drinking and revelry before Ash Wednesday and the fasting that accompanies Lent.

New Orleans has the largest and best-known Carnival celebrations in the US, with street parties, fancy balls and parades, from simple neighborhood walking clubs to elaborate high-tech extravaganzas with huge floats laden with flashing lights and giant animated figures.

Other communities in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast are also celebrating. Mobile, Alabama, lays claim to the oldest Mardi Gras celebrations in the country.

Saturday's events include the annual streetcar ride by the Phunny Phorty Phellows, a group of masked and costumed men and women aboard a New Orleans streetcar that rumbles out of the cavernous transit shed in the Carrollton neighborhood before turning onto St. Charles Avenue drives up.

Like much of New Orleans Carnival, it is a tradition that has evolved. The current Phellows first gathered in 1981, a rebirth of a satirical Carnival krewe that took to the streets in 1878 and stopped parading in 1898, according to the group's history.

In the French Quarter, the annual parade marches through the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc to mark the French hero's birthday, along a route that takes them past a golden statue of their namesake. This year's guests include a delegation from Orléans, France.

While the parade is launched in tribute to Joan of Arc, participants will end the parade with a ceremony marking the end of the Christmas season and the arrival of Carnival, said krewe captain Antoinette Alteriis.

Locals embrace the traditions of Mardi Gras, but the event is also a very welcome trade generator in a city known for its bars, restaurants and a tourism-dependent economy. That economy took a major hit when parades and other festivities were largely halted in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mark Romig of the New Orleans tourist bureau & Co. said there is a strong recovery.

“It was a very dramatic return,” Romig said. “We saw it steadily increase from '22 onwards. This past year, '23, was great, we felt really good about it.

Romig said he is optimistic that carnival tourist numbers will be even better this year, even though the season is relatively short.

New Orleans always begins celebrations on January 6, but the end date varies seasonally depending on the variable dates of Easter and Lent. This year it is a relatively short season, culminating on February 13th.

Saturday's parades in New Orleans are a prelude to other small parades that take place in January and the series of larger, major parades that begin this year on February 2 over a twelve-day period.

When the Joan of Arc parade ends, participants will celebrate the arrival of Carnival with a ceremony including king cake, Alteriis said. The rings of pastry decorated with purple, green and gold sugar or icing are a signature delicacy of the season.

Local supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants do a brisk business selling king cakes every year, some offering them days before the arrival of Carnival, despite a venerable if loosely followed custom that states that it is not appropriate to eat a king cake before January 6. snack. .

In 2022, some parade routes were shortened due to a depleted police force and concerns about crime. The routes were reinstated in 2023 as the city received crowd control assistance from neighboring police jurisdictions, as well as the usual Louisiana State Police contingent that visits every year to boost the law enforcement presence.