Today my niece sent me some of the photos she shot at the all-women's Mardi Gras ritual/party at my loft Feb. 21. This was another one of those occasions when I chose to leave my camera in the camera bag and just be in the moment. So I shot nothing, and am glad Nicole had a few photos to send me.
The Mardi Gras event is hosted by the Krewe of Baubo and Ame no Uzume. It's a secret organization, so I'll say no more about it. If you're up on your goddesses, you'll know that both Baubo and Ame no Uzume are known for bawdy acts, which always seem just about perfect for an event that is held to banish the gloom of winter and prepare for the excesses of spring.
The first photo is of our friend Thalia, also known as the queen of Pagan tech support. I always have great ideas for Pagan events and rituals that I don't quite know how to bring to fruition. Thalia always keeps me from doing something really stupid, like trying to hold up a block of marble with PVC pipe. She hung all the decorations for the event, and this loft was decorated within an inch of its life.
Nicole, my daughter Margot and our friend Gina comprised the kitchen crew. They whipped up the red beans and rice (to Leon Soniat's recipe from La Bouche Creole), the king cake, and Gina grabbed a potato masher to create a big batch of guacamole. Guacamole is not, strictly speaking, a classic Mardi Gras dish, but hey, we're in California, not New Orleans. Here are the cooks at work and later, in costume.
Margot's turned out to be the family bread baker, so here she is with the finished King Cake and also a shot of the King Cake by itself. It's really much more of a sweet yeast bread than a cake. Traditionally a tiny plastic baby is baked into the cake and it's decorated with purple green and yellow sugar, which are the traditional Mardi Gras colors.
Of course we had lots and lots of beads. Let's just say the bead acquisition was intended to be a (very minor) stimulus to the New Orleans economy.
Some of the costumes were really wonderful. Each woman was told to come as her favorite goddess. I'm sorry Nicole didn't get photos of the costume winners, which included a multi-breasted Diana of Ephesus and Gaia in earthquake mode, both of which made us laugh and laugh and laugh. But at least here's Hadar as Athena armed with a pot-lid shield bearing an image of Medusa, and Julie as Sarasvati. And below that you can see incarnations of Pele and Crow Mother.
Margot and Nicole were, respectively Oshun and Freya. I thought it interesting that Margot-- in blue and green -- chose Oshun without knowing of this orisha's strong connection to New Orleans. When Nicole got married, I had made her a wedding quilt with an image of Freya at the top, dropping down flowers on the bridal couple. So I wasn't surprised that she chose to deck herself out in golden fabric and come as Freya. Both of them created costumes out of fabrics from my stash and a few ostrich plumes from Mardi Gras past.
Gina's sister Ann Guccione, who is a Mardi Gras mask-maker of considerable reputation, made Gina and me each fancy hats for Mardi Gras. (You can see a video about Ann and her sister Laura at this link). I didn't wear mine for the event as my Medusa costume meant a head full of rubber snakes and no room for a hat. But I think I will wear it in May at the Pagan Alliance's annual Pagan Festival in Berkeley. I get to be the Keeper of the Light and ride in the parade, so needed something very festive and special anyway. The hat Ann made is way fabulous and just perfect. Here you can see Gina and me modeling our hats and then the ``snakification'' of my hair in progress.
My old friend Mark Folse wrote an an explanation of Mardi Gras masking and an exhortation to mask which was sent to all invitees. He also published it on his Toulouse Street blog, which is definitely worth reading for anyone who does indeed know what it means to miss New Orleans. His Carry Me Home -- a series of post-Katrina essays -- has just been published in book form. And here you can see a photo of Mark as he was attired for his annual promenade through the French Quarter on Mardi Gras day.
Gina, Mark and I met and worked together at the late and much lamented West Bank Guide, a newspaper started in a New Orleans suburb by the owners of the Atlanta Journal Constitution as part of an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to break the Times-Picayune's dominance of the New Orleans newspaper market. We're still all great friends, and Mardi Gras is one of the threads that ties us together.
The Carnival event served its purpose, bridging winter's darkness and bringing us to the first glimmerings of spring. Now we've had several weeks of constant rain and spring is bursting forth everywhere, robing the Berkeley Hills in green velvet upholstery, and prompting the golden trumpets of my freesias to greet me with an apricot-scented fanfare for the nose every morning. But I know the wheel of the year will turn, and, next year, as they say in New Orleans, ``Every year at Carnival time, we make a new suit . . . .''
Mardi+Gras New+Orleans Louisiana Mask Costume Ritual Goddess Creole Food Beads Pagan Paganism Newspapers Celebration California Carnival
Great hat! Cool pics. Loved this.
Posted by: Hollyheartfree | March 16, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Sie haben sicher einige angenehme Meinungen und Ansichten. Ihr Blog bietet einen frischen Blick auf das Motiv.
Posted by: Million Dollar Pips | November 09, 2011 at 03:42 AM
Reverendjim was a reference from the old socitm Taxi. I agree with you more than you will ever know to the regard of corporate graft, greed and lobbying. However I am against the left too. No problem with gay people at all, the women thing has gone too far, its a joke now and as far as the black situation go's all i can say is I do not draw a distinction, we are all the same. However, I think we need to a dose of old fashion public morality; human depravity belongs back in the closet.
Posted by: Amit | March 21, 2012 at 08:46 PM
There's all kinds of depravity aywals has and aywals will be. There's the depravity that individuals dwell in and you are uncomfortable with public diplays of individual depravity. Then there is the institutional depravity that your type is aywals willing to ignore or even dwell in your selves. In 1941 you still had in America the land of freedom and equality institutionalized racisim. against black people, women & gays. You fake Christians are aywals to willing to ignore this kind of depravity.
Posted by: Karam | March 23, 2012 at 07:03 PM