posted
We have a guy here in our office who used to live in New Orleans, and he kinda goes beserk this time of year in decorating the office and "celebrating" Mardi Gras here in Kansas. We suffer him his idiosyncrasies.
And each year were suffer through several "King Cakes". These are multi-colored cakes that have a tiny plastic baby embedded somewhere in the cake. You cut a piece, and as you eat it, you hope you don't get the baby. If you do get the baby in your piece, you have to buy the next King Cake. I think we went nearly 10 of these cakes last year. I never take a piece -- because I can't afford to have to buy a cake!
Mardi Gras is a big thing in New Orleans. It's like celebrating Easter. And king cakes...wow. King cakes are the most wonderful thing ever. When I think of how much class time I have wasted in my lifetime because people have brought king cakes. I love them. Cream cheese filling is the best.
*** If I know what's good for me, I will not make bead comments to FG***
.
.
So Farmgirl, does he offer beads? Have you gotten any?
***runs and hides***
[PS I know, the whole bead thing has ruined Mardis Gras. They stole the lowest semi-tradition of a colorful holiday, and now they do it everywhere and every when and brag about its mardis gras origins.]
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Okay good. I missed it last year and I was afraid I had done it two years in a row. I was desperately going through my list of all the vices I had partaken in yesterday and trying to figure out one I had NOT, so that I could give it up for Lent. I could only think of one and I wasn't sure I could give that one up for very long!
(I refuse to add a j/k or a smily here.)
Oh the bead thing!!! So funny. We had a foreign exchange student in high school that didn't know about the bead thing. Some girls were trying to explain what he would have to do for the beads but he kept missing the point. I'm sorry you probably had to be there. I just keep thinking about his bad English and his repeating of "Beads? Vat eez zees beads?"
posted
Mardi Gras is the same celebration as Carnival, which means "farewell to the flesh." It was basically a big debauch before the fasting and abstaining of Lent. So coming right before Ash Wednesday makes good sense. The last day of Mardi Gras is also called "Fat Tuesday"
Dagonee *On a Catholic trivia roll this week.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
*laughs* my workplace started king cakes last month. I always loved wasting the class time with them-though I haven't been able to eat them since second grade-when the mother of a classmate brought us a homemade king cake that was so disgusting that it still makes me sick to eat one. And beads are fun. beads beads beads. If only we didn't have to stay at school that weekend....
Posts: 3493 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
I heard a blurb on TV last week that made me think last week was the start of Lent! I have already started my Lenten promises (no soda, beer, or snacks)...
Oh well, why not see if I can go 40 days PLUS 2 weeks?
posted
Last year I gave up soda, and except for one fruity soda that I didn't connect with soda, since it was a non-orange/lime/lemon fruit, I was successful.
I was successful with chocolate one year in high school too, but usually I fail
This guy does hang bead necklaces or whatever around as part of the decoration -- but I have never been "offered" beads....... is there something I should know about beads that I don't? If they mean something, I don't think anyone else here in the office is aware of it....
posted
Well, if he ever does offer you beads, you probably won't want to do what it takes to "earn" them.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Dragonee, you made me giggle. To translate Carnival, then say that the last day of Mardi Gras "is also called Fat Tuesday" (the actual translation of Mardi Gras!) in the same post...made me laugh.
But then, I've been in an odd mood today. Go ahead and ignore me, everyone!
Posts: 2661 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Farmgirl, I figured that any guy who asked you to earn the beads would be picking himself up off the floor.
Posts: 4569 | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
*fleeing New Orleans during Mardi Gras, as has given up heavy drinking and doesn't feel like hanging around a bunch of wasted tourists*
Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Realease a chicken at work. Seriously, though, it's a rural Mardi Gras thing. Men get up (drunk) at the crack of dawn, dress up like beggars, and ride from house to house on horseback, begging for food--peas and pototates and such. Finally, when they get to the last house (usually the group's leader's abode), the woman of the house releases a chicken, which the (drunk) men proceed to chase. Then all the food they gathered is put into a soup, and they all have nice, chicken soup for lunch.
Posts: 873 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
...wonder how that would go over -- I mean if this guy is allowed to bring in beads and King Cake, they can't discriminate against me for continuing on with the tradition, could they? ::looks around sneakily::
Okay, my New Orleans guy here at work says he has never heard of the chicken thing, and doesn't believe it. We are going to have to find some links to back it up as tradition.
He said it sounds more like a St. Patricks Day thing there -- because that's the parade where everyone throws vegetables and then makes soup. He said Mardi Gras centers around crawfish, not chicken.
So help me out here MD -- before I bring in my chicken tomorrow and perch it on his desk.
posted
It depends upon the part of Louisiana....some of these things are very rural... :: giggles :: Satyagraha
Posts: 1986 | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, St. Patrick's Day is also a big deal...and I'll be here for that, since it's the day after my birthday. I might make an exception to my new moderate-drinking decision. Just for then. Especially since I'm in danger of ending up as a part of the parade.
But Mardi Gras....I dunno. I'm not a fan of the tourists here to begin with...they just get so obnoxious during any other part of the year that the thought of there being so many of them...with so much alcohol....
Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
ooh! And since he's from NO, do this to him: Put grease all over anything knee-high. They actually have to grease down the light poles so people don't climb them.
And it's EXTREMELY rural. I want to say they do it in Mamou (said, 'mam-mu'), but I'm not sure.
to guy @ work. He should know these things, like a good Louisianian! Even Correlle knows about it, and she's not a true Louisianian!
Posts: 873 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have heard many people say that the week before Mardi Gras is the time to be in New Orleans -- you get to see lots of parades but without all the drunk tourists and lame debauchery (only good wholesome debauchery).
I really want to go some year.
There's another way to get beads though. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . YOU BUY THEM!!!
NOTES: Will NOT make comment about underage drinking by certain people!
Will NOT make comment about underage drinking by certain people! Will NOT make comment about underage drinking by certain people! Will NOT make comment about underage drinking by certain people! Will NOT make comment about underage drinking by certain people! Will NOT make comment about underage drinking by certain people! Will NOT make comment about underage drinking by certain people!
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't have happy memories of kingcake. In 2000 a client sent a kingcake to our three person office. And I was 8 months pregnant. So maybe it was a 3 1/2 person office. But at that stage I eat even less than normal. It got pretty gross by payday, when the field force came in and took a crack at it.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
or, you can go to a parade in normal clothes and still catch them. If you bring a cute small child, you're likely to get more beads. Anyone who BUYS mardi gras beads and isn't in a parade is out of their minds.
Posts: 3493 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Well, considering that you can get about 8,000 beads for $3 and NOT have to take a small child anywhere near one of those parades, I figure it's still the way to go.
FG: Actually, I just don't get the whole bead thing, you know. I mean on the one hand, they are just mammary glands and guys can go shirtless without getting in trouble, but women showing their breasts is somehow wrong or too "exciting" for mere men. On the other hand, why would anyone do ANYTHING to obtain plastic beads that you can pick up anywhere for next to nothing? I mean, sure, it's fun to watch drunk chicks do things in public...who doesn't love that? But what's the point? I mean, they're usually 1 step away from puking in the gutter and I personally find that a little un-sexy, unless I'm puking-drunk too. Now, maybe a topless woman puking is still a turn on...I haven't experienced that yet.
pH: Not a party person??? You forget that many of us have actually MET you. I have photos of you hugging a metal tree in EPCOT, so lets not even go there, 'kay? I'd hate to have to post that stuff on the web.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Okay, despite my devil-may-dare attitude, I ended up NOT bringing the chicken today for the guy to chase and catch. For these reasons:
First off, it is not yet Mardi Gras. That is't until February 25th. So I still have some time to change my mind.
Secondly, my mother has apparently just this morning set herself up as some kind of president of the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Poultry" and strictly forbid that I kidnap one of her dear loved ones for the purpose of being chased, harrassed, killed and eaten in the name of tradition.
I just sent an e-mail to my boss saying basically the same as I said above, and this is what he replied:
quote:1. It's good that you have several days to research this tradition. However, if you do find ample proof that this indeed is a tradition that we should embrace....
2. Don't worry about your mother. Just tell her that there are millions of chickens that can replace one of her dear loved ones...they all look alike anyway...
3. Don't worry about your job. I'll deal with the higher-ups (and PETA, if need be). It would be well worth anything to watch Grady chase a chicken
posted
I give up caffeine for Lent for a couple of good reasons.
1. It's healthy. 2. Caffeine covers so many things that a truly love, like COFFEE and DR. PEPPER! 3. I'm incredibly addicted and it's nice to be free for a month.
Of course Easter morning always starts with a nice cup o' joe. Ahhhhhh....
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
The company I work for provides entertainment for events around the country, and here in St. Louis.
St. Louis has the second biggest Mardis Gras celebration in the country.
It spans two weekends. The first weekend is the "Children's Parade." This is a parade in which the drinking and carousing is kept to a minimum so that kids can enjoy the floats.
Several years ago the local Kids Radio Station called us and asked if we could provide a float for them, in exchange for some air time.
It so happens that the previous year my father, seeing all the strange things we do, decided he could do that, and built a trackless train.
He took a large ATV (Kawasaki Mule) and decorated it like a train engine. He took ten 55 gallon Cranberry Juice plastic drums, and turned them into 1 seat passenger cars.
My mother hand painted the faces.
It is soooooooooooooooooo cute.
Anyway, I contacted my father and got him to do the parade. He had lost his left leg due to Diabetes, but the train was runnable with one leg. Loading it and unloading it took more than that. It took one of his sons--me.
Remember, this is february in St. Louis. It is no where near as warm as, say, New Orleans. It was a sunny day, so the temp broke 20 degrees farenheit. We found ten volunteer kids to get in the train and sit in the cold, then we waited our turn for the parade.
The lady from the kids radio station jumped on the back of the ATV with me. We had a few boxes of beads and were ready for this short 9 block run.
The crowd was incredible.
YOu know those parades you watch on TV where the police keep everyone back and there is plenty of room for everyone?
This wasn't one of those parades.
In this yuppie bar district of cobble streets and antique converted gas lanterns, the crowd filled every inch of the street.
With in half an hour we were all but out of beads. The woman from the Radio Station had one set left she was wearing.
"These are mine!" she said. "Its my pay for being here today. Nothing will force me to give them up!"
We had gone 2 blocks.
An hour later we had gone an additional four blocks, and I notice that the woman standing next to me was beadless.
She also had a beer.
I concluded that Beer = Nothing.
I looked down and my father was driving the train very slowly and very carefully to make sure nobody got hurt.
"Watch your feet" he kept saying.
My father was about 60, short hair, one leg, and needed a shave.
"Watch your feet." He kept yelling
Suddenly, a woman on his right laughed.
"Watch your feet dear." he said.
"Watch my feet? Watch THESE!" she responded.
wobble wobble.
My dad almost ran over three children and a nun.
The woman from the radio station next to me almost spilled her beer.
Almost.
I looked away. (Gawking at flashing women in front of ones father is liable to lead to the nead for counseling. Watching him gawk definately brings up issues.)
My father, getting control of the train, yelled back, "Thanks Hun. Now put them away before they freeze."
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
First celebration in America: Captain Iberville (the French captain who first came to Louisiana) and his crew landed 60 miles south of present-day New Orleans on March 3, 1699. Since this day was Mardi Gras, they celebrated with a mass and cristened the area Point du Mardi Gras
King Cakes: the Mardi Gras cakes are decorated in purple, gold, and green icing; these stand for justice, power, and faith, respectively. These colors were chosen to represent the crowns worn by the three Wise Men. The plastic baby Jesus inside the cake used to be beans, coins, or jewels, modeled after Yule cakes. Nowadays, instead of being a 'king/queen for Mardi Gras', the person who gets the baby has to bring the next king cake.
Ephiphany: Ephiphany, or 'Twelvth Night', kicks off the Mardi Gras season. It is the night the Wise Men reached the manger in Bethlehem.
How it started: Mardi Gras started in France (namely Paris). Mardi Gras (French for 'Fat Tuesday') was supposed to be the 'big party' before Lent (back then, no birthdays were celebrated, no marriages were preformed. they were in mourning, no celebration was allowed. they couldn't even eat meat). The whole thing was topped off on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday when they would chase pigs down the streets of Paris.
just a little fyi for you yankees.
Posts: 873 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've king cake every morning in my English Honors class. Wonderful tradition. We also get two days off to party. Life's so much fun, right now. Yet, right on Ash Wednesday I have two papers due. *grumbles*
Posts: 4628 | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged |
But I had a paper due last week that I haven't turned in and four quizzes to make up tomorrow. Woohoo.
Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged |