The Clarendon Mardi Gras Parade
| Arlington, Va. Michael Hamner |
The Clarendon Mardi Gras parade rolled through the streets of Arlington, Va. on Fat Tuesday, February 20, delighting the young and the young-at-heart. Floats filled with costumed revelers dressed in brightly colored costumes traveled along the parade route on Wilson Boulevard as the “krewe members” tossed beads, plastic cups, and other “throws” to the excited crowd, estimated by the Arlington police at 12-15,000.
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| Clarendon Mardi Gras Parade Photo: Michael Hamner |
The parade, sponsored by the Clarendon Alliance, Tallula Restaurant, the LSU Alumni Chapter of D.C. and others, began at 8 p.m. at Barton Street and paraded through the Clarendon Commercial district. The Army National Guard marching band, the D.C. Balou High School marching band, and other musical groups participated along with the Krewe of Louisiana, a group composed of alumni from several Louisiana universities, their families and friends.
“This is the seventh Mardi Gras parade held in Arlington and the crowd is beginning to “catch on” to what a carnival parade is all about,’ according to … of the Krewe of Louisiana. Krewe members, most of whom, have experienced Mardi Gras parades since childhood had to sign a waiver and list of restrictions; among them “ do not throw overhand – these people were NOT brought up from birth catching Mardi Gras beads” and “alcohol is not to be consumed on the floats – remember, you are in VIRGINIA, not LOUISIANA!”
A Mardi Gras “krewe” is a carnival organization that finances the building of floats the preparation of costumes and all the other preparations that go into the goal of parading and spreading good will to the public during the carnival season. In New Orleans all of the “old-line” krewes are private social organizations and do not accept sponsorship of their floats by businesses, preferring to keep Mardi Gras parading a non-commercial activity. They do it, as one krewe motto says, pro bono publico, for the public good.
Although “carnival” and “Mardi Gras” are thought by many to be the same, Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday” is simply the final day of the carnival season and is always followed by Ash Wednesday. Carnival, which is celebrated by many cultures in both the old world and the new, under various names, had it’s origin in a Roman pagan holiday. The term supposedly came from the Latin carne levare which means “to leave the meat” since Ash Wednesday begins the period of Lent during which Roman Catholics historically fasted or eliminated meat from their diets.
And although carnival is primarily celebrated in areas settled by Catholic or Eastern Orthodox believers some of the aspects of carnival and Mardi Gras parades in particular, as they are celebrated in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were instituted by secret societies of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant business leaders. These secret societies, such as the Krewe of Comus, Momus, and others developed many of the ...