Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-01-18

this time, and already many strangers
have spoken for places at the hotels.
Mardi Gras is observed in Mobile and
! Galveston as well as at New Orleans,
but nowhere else in America has it OBJ
tanned much foothold. The Mardi Gras
of these cities is an American modi-
| ication of the carnival of the cities of
southern Europe. On both sides of the
Atlantic the festivities held just before
| the beginning of the Lenten season serve
as a sort of goodby to good times till aft
er Easter. Indeed the very word "car-
nival" (carni-vale) is supposed to signify
farewell to flesh" and was applied to
| these festivities because no good church
man may eat meat during Lent. In all the
carnival cities, whether on the banks of
the Tiber, the Seine or the Mississippi,
one of the chief features of the period is
| light hearted gayety. But there are great
| differences between the carnival observ-
ances of the old and the new worlds.
| In Europe the fun is more sponta-
neous-more extemporaneous, so to
| speak-and entered into more for its own
sake than in America. There are ex-
cesses there unheard of here, and there
! is also far less of systematized and i'm
posing display.
This latter feature of the carnival in
New Orleans dates back only to 1857
| and is doubtless the result of ENGRAVING
upon the Latin idea of harlequin frivol-
| ity the American bent for organization.
In the old days, when the creole element
was supreme in the Crescent City, the
last few days before the beginning of
lob tod
maskers upon the public streets, and
there was much rude fun of a sort some
what similar 60 that which characterizes
the same period abroad.
The organization of parades was at
tempted several years before it was &C
complished, but the first appearance Of
the Mystic Krewe did not occur until the
evening of Feb. "a, four years before the
beginning of the civil war. The first pa
rade was a satisfying success. The char
acters in the procession, which was held
in the evening, represented the denizens
of the internal regions as depicted in
Millions Paradise Lost, and the unique
display was followed by q brilliant ball
at the Varieties theater. From this time
until the war storm broke over the land
the Mystic Krewe paraded yearly, with
annually augmented splendor but after
1861 it was suspended until 1866, when
the festivities We're revived and have
been repeated every year since, save when
interrupted by pestilence or political up
heaval. The Mystic Krewe, however.
! disappeared in 1884 and was not seen
again for five or six years.
The first day parade took place in 1879,
when Rex, king of the carnival" as
sumed regal power over the city for "a
hours. His sham sovereignty was ex-
tended over all classes, including even
''the strangers within the gates" This
new departure was a success from the
start, so much so indeed that the reign
of Rex was shortly extended to cover
two days, ON the first of which his maj
esty arrives, and on the second of which
the Mardi Gras parade proper is held.
In 1872 and the year following the
knights of Momus" appeared on New
Years eve, but in 1876 this organization
became a feature of the carnival itself.
In 1878 the "Phunny Priority Phellows"
added themselves to the parades. in 1882
the "Krewe of Proteus" appeared, and
every year since then these divisions
have increased their gorgeousness or
new ones have been added until it is