Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-01
AT THE FEET OF REX.
The New World Falls Down to Wor-
ship Him at New Orleans.
WHAT TIE BIG CARNIVAL Is.
Pleasing Fiction Perpetrated With the
Ceremony Of Reality.
PROCESSION, RECEPTION AND BALLS
rconnnspospENc. OF THE p,srArcu.I

| is over. The Crescent City laws aside its
claim to be the Mecca OF the New World
| for another year, and the hundred thousand
| pilgrims, who for the last few days have
been jostling each other in New Orleans
streets, and lining up for dinner in New
Orleans hotels, have paid their tribute at
more substantial one to his subjects, ap-
plauded his gorgeous pageants, and gone
back whence they came.
The drum-major element, that part of the
human constitution, everywhere, that de-
| lights in parades and brass buttons, in
| brave uniforms. and pomp and circum-
stance, is not lacking in development in the
American public, and this it is that makes
New Orleans perhaps the peerless carnival
| city of the world. Ask a sober-minded
citizen of New Orleans how the carnival
subsists, who it is that keeps it up, and he
will tell you the Mardi Gras is made suc-
| cess by people like yourself, people who
bring money into the city and help to swell
the crowd; that it is essentially show for
| visitors and an advertisement for the city.
The local papers, however, disclaim any
such venial motives in the true carnival
spirit. The Times Dem ocrot has this to say
in speaking of attempts to reproduce the car
nival elsewhere:
Claims of the New Orleans Press.
1t is unnecessary to call attention to the
points which make the New Orleans carnival
success. 1t has been discussed at length. and
has been critically compared with the carnivals
of Rome. Naples and Venice. Each of these
has its distinguishing features; but with all OF
them New Orleans can invite comparison. II
it lacks some of the gayety-and perhaps
license-of the Italian festivals, it surpasses
them in the splendor and grandeur of the
parades and street displays.
There have been many attempts to initiate
the New Orleans carnival in other American
cities but they have been generally failures for
obvious reasons Our neighbor, Mobile, is an
exception. particularly with the street parades,
which, indeed, it invented; but the carnival at
tempts elsewhere have mainly been fail
ures. Washington once made grand ef-
fort in this direction and spent great
deal of money, but its displays lacked
the true spirit. The PROFESSIONS were GOT
geous, but cold and spiritless. The crowd
looked on and admired. but there was no fun
or merriment. and the affair proved so unsatis-
the so-calied carnivals have been largely trade
displays, with too much advertising about them
or money-making concerns which, unfortu-
nately, did not make money.
On two three occasions our parades have
been reproduced elsewhere with some applause;
but even then, the carnival spirit was missing
That spirit is peculiar and natural TO New Or
leans. We owe great deal of it to our Creol.
fellow-citizens who brought Mardi Gras over
and planted it here, where it has taken an en-
tirely new growth.
Some Points About the Carnival.
Northern dailies have left little to tell of
the actual happenings OF the recent Mardi
Gras. Its parades and its balls, its mask
ings and its merry-mskings have been de-
scribed in detail, and yet it is not strange
that many should still know little Of the
how and the why of all these things. Even
the name Mardi Gras itself is an unsolved
riddle to many intelligent people who have
heard or thought little about the matter.
At the risk then of rehearsing the merest
commonplaces to all who know something
of the carnival, it may be well to state
briefly what it is and how it is accounted
for.
"Mardi," it will be remembered; is the
French for Tuesday, and "Gras" for "fat,"
the name "Mardi Gras" being that of the
old Catholic festival "Shrove Tuesday," the
last day before Lent. As is we'll known,
this day together with the few that precede
it, has been for many years observed as
carnival season by the cities of Southern
Europe, and is the time when mirth runs
riot. In Rome, or Nice, or Venice, at the
carnival season no one thinks of resenting
any license; the streets are crowded with
maskers who treat all alike; no dignitary is
too formidable to be pelted with roses, con-
fetti and such harmless missiles, and no cos
tune, however elaborate, is safe from ruff
fling. High and low, rich and poor, mingle
together for this one day without reserve.
As Modified by the Creoies.
In New Orleans for some years it was
much the same, but OF late the celebration,
introduced, as limited above, by the Creole
element, has grown somewhat away from the
Old World carnival, and embraces several
features that belong distlnctively to New
Orleans, such as the brief reign Of Rex and
the gorgeous night parades of the gods
Comus and Proteus. There is the same e1-
uberance, but less license; new silk hat is
comparatively safe on Canal street now, but
this could not always be said; few years
ago it would have stood fair chance Of be-
ing kicked off the wearer's head.
Later the custom of throwing -four grew
up among the maskers; they found little
thin paper sacks of flour. that would burst
like torpedo on striking a suit of dark
clothes. very effective weapons against any
who looked askance at them. But this, too,
is about given up, and masking in the New
Orleans carnival, except IN the parades, Is
nearly confined to children. And yet there
are enough maskers about the streets to give
a picturesque cast to the whole vast crowd.
Every grade of being is personated, from
butterfly to devil, the last being perhaps the
fayorite character.
A Great Day for Children.
It is a wonderful time for the children;
Christmas New Years, Fourth of July ali in
one. Little toddlers, hardly able TO walk alone
must have their masks and their gay dresses;
and then there is such delicious mystery
g. III CIV Iaoly III
ple. going about like beasts, birds and fishes
who are they, and what are they? The
crowds and the music, and above all the
possibility of securing some of the flowers
and little candy boxes the generous followers
of the King dispense to his applauding SUBJ
jects.
This fiction of "Re1" is peculiar to the
New Orleans carnival. 1t is pretended with
much gravity that the inhabitants of the
city are all the good and loyal subjects of a
King whom they call familiarity plain
REX" "Rex," it is insisted, dwells among |
the distant islands of the sea, and visits his
beloved kingdom only once year, on Mardi
Gras, the last day of carnival; tenders a re-
ception to his subjects and disappears as
mysteriouslv as he came. Royal edicts |
herald his coming, and on the preceding day |
a chosen fleet of vessels sails down the river |
to the jetties to escort the royal yacht to the |
city. lThe "royal yacht" has sailed down
the day before, but this must be mentioned
in whisper.) On the arrival of "Re1" a
salute is fired, and the Mayor of the city, at |
tended bv sll the municipal dignitaries, de- |
livers to the royal visitor the keys of Office.
giving to his brief rule
The Semblance of Reality.
A line of march is formed and the King |
is conducted in regal state, between walls Of