On the 21rst of February, people around the world will be celebrating Mardi Gras. While I was contemplating my next project, I once again became enchanted with the idea of this day into the night-long celebration before the season of Lent. I'd recently had a very upsetting occurrence when my sister told me that she gave my Aunt Yvonne's charm bracelet to her best friend (knowing I'd wanted it). I have no words to accurately describe the hurt this caused me, but life being the way it sometimes is, we carry on. But it was this circumstance that had me once again thinking of the summer I spent in a suburb of New Orleans when I was ten years old.
My beautiful, graceful Aunt Yvonne, who lived in New Orleans, had me over to her tiny apartment one day to have tea with me, show me how to manicure and paint my nails, and shared with me her fascinating charm bracelet. She was a gentlewoman in her long, full skirts and delicate ways. And she made me feel special. I will never forget her.
That Christmas, she sent me a scrapbook of the summer I spent with my French family. This scrapbook has survived the past 55 years and remains one of my dearest treasures.
My mother's side of the family can be traced back to the 1860s when John Mon Soubiraa and Julia Lephartz came to New Orleans from Pau, France, at the foot of Pyrenees, near the place of St. Bernadette Souberous of Lourdes. Greatgrandpa, Alfred Peter Miranne was born near Paris. He and his parents lived in the French Quarter when they first came here.
History seems rich, especially when it is your own. I always wished that I had grown up with my cousins in Louisiana. And very different my life would have turned out! I suppose when you're ten years old and your mother's family is showing you the best of where they live, it isn't a far stretch to have those feelings. Even today, I can still remember every moment of that summer, including what we had for lunch every day!
Click on this page from my aunt's scrapbook and see if you can read the history she typed on it. Apparently, my great-great grandparents owned the original coffee shop in the French Market, along with a fruit and vegetable stall. They are listed in the City Directory in both 1846 and 1870.
New Orleans in the 1960s was a fascinating city, and I'm sure quite different from the experience it would be today. I was my Aunt JoAnn's excuse (the auntie I stayed with) to go to so many places those who live there wouldn't normally consider. The wax museum knocked my socks off. We toured a museum of Louisiana history where I saw royal garments worn by Napolean and Josephine. The mannequins weren't much taller than me!
Aunt Yvonne's husband was a tour bus guide and knew everyone. I mean everyone! I took the bus ride with him one day, and on another, I sat in the pilot's chair of the riverboat, Mark Twain, and took the five-hour ride down the Mississippi.
To the right is yours truly afloat on the Tangiphahoa River.
Its these memories and many more that inspired my creative explorations in designing a Mardi Gras costume for Cissy. If you ask if I ever attended Mardi Gras, the answer is no. But my grandmother used to send us a box of doubloons and beads thrown from the floats after Mardi Gras. A shipment back then used to take three weeks, so it was such a treat, for me at least, to receive the box during the time of Lenten depravation.
While exploring the history of Mardi Gras, I learned a few things - as I always do. Did you know that the term Mardi Gras is a direct translation of Fat Tuesday? Here's another. Carnival means "farewell to meat". If you think about it, duh! The word carnivorous means meat eater. I always loved finding the roots of words then the words they make up. Kind of nerdy, I know.
During my research there were two parade floats that caught my attention. One was of a cow or an ox. This bovine is called Bouef Gras or fat ox. He represents eating meat during Mardi Gras as I suppose eating meat became a no-no during the Lenten season. At some point in time anyway. The float has been a part of the Rex parade since 1959. (see photo below)
Another character was the Flying Alligator. When I asked an Etsy seller in New Orleans why they called him a "flying alligator", she answered me with some trivia about Mardi Gras that had nothing to do with my question. I wasn't going to
tempt fate and ask again. I couldn't find it online either.
But here's an adorable Louisiana paper doll of Louis the alligator. And James Rice wrote a fun children's book called Gaston Goes to Mardi Gras. The story tells of Gaston, the alligator, who gets the whole experience, even riding on the floats. James Rice also illustrated The Cajun Night Before Christmas, and my uncle from the family I stayed with that summer, gave it to my mother (who collected Night Before Christmas books) one year.
My guess is that they call the alligator float, the Flying Alligator because he's on a float. Maybe. I hate not knowing trivia like this!
I was also interested in terms like Rex and Krewe and it appears that they are interwoven. The krewe is the organization of Rex (the King) and is in charge of designing the floats. As parades began to expand to other areas - neighborhood street parades, etc., Rex did not want to be outdone with being the best of the parades. The Rex parade is the one
where the appointed King of Mardi Gras rides the royal float and greets the mayor of New Orleans. Strands of beads were traditionally thrown from the floats to the crowds watching the parade go by. But in 1959, Alvin Sharpe suggested they "mint" aluminum doubloons and toss them from them from the floats of the Rex parade to make it special. Like handing out riches.
The doubloons are commemorative of the year they're "minted" and the early ones, if you can find them now, are collectibles.
A popular theory holds that Mardi Gras had pagan roots in the celebration of spring and fertility. However, some experts contend that Mardi Gras was solely a result of the Catholic Church banning sexual intercourse and meat during Lent.
Louisiana was officially Roman Catholic under the rule of France and Spain. The boundaries dividing the territories generally coincided with church parishes. In 1807, the territorial legislature,
officially adopted the ecclesiastical term, parish. While other religions are obviously practiced in the state, Mardi Gras is enjoyed by all, however the Catholics still observe Lenten practices. Hence, Mardi Gras is the party to end all parties with food, fun, music and dancing.
So where do the official colors of Mardi Gras come from? Mardi Gras colors are green, yellow and purple because they are the colors of the Catholic Church. Green symbolizes faith, yellow symbolizes power, and purple symbolizes justice. When designing Cissy's costume, these were the colors I chose.
Cissy's gown consists of 18 individual panels of silk sewn together to make the skirt. Six each of yellow, purple and green. The bodice is halved in yellow and green and the elegant, puffed sleeves, are in the eggplant purple.
I added pointelles of yellow and green to both the front and back and sewed crystally beads in the same colors to their tips. The bodice is
adorned with two of these beads in purple.
I purchased a box of assorted Mardi Gras beads from Amazon and cut them down to dolly size for Cissy. I also bought a box of individual Mardi Gras beads to string stretchy bracelets for her.
Her earrings are fleur de lis charms. With little time to have fleur de lis charms shipped to me, I purchased costume jewelry earrings and took the charms from them to use for Cissy's.
The headdress took some designing and creating. I looked at many lovely ones online, and from the various ones I liked best, I created this fanciful Carnival headband for her.
The headband is of gold metallic leather. The same leather I used for Paloma the Puppeteer. I do try to use what I have on hand. I hot glued strands of beads in purple, yellow and green across the headband, then hot glued individual mini doubloons from the bead strands I'd purchased, into supports for the feathers.
I'm not a big fan of hot glue guns as they are so messy to work with, but this was the only way to get these pieces on the headband to form a headdress. I don't feel any qualms about this as everyone today uses a hot glue gun for this purpose.
Cissy's mask on a stick was created from a plastic Mardi Gras magnet mask I purchased on Etsy. I had to remove the stem with the magnet on the back and used a hot knife tool to do this. The wooden stick was painted metallic gold then candy cane wrapped with gold dress trim. Three little silk ribbons were attached to the side and as an afterthought, I included a green star bead piece that was left over from one of her necklaces.
Her purse was going to be a purple velveteen affair with a fleur de lis beaded on it. I realized the fleur de lis would need to be very large to look like one with beading, so I used a satin fabric I purchased for another doll's costume for the body of the purse. I then sewed a tiny, crowned mask charm to the tip of it.
Creating Cissy's Mardi Gras ball costume was for me, a celebration of a time-honored tradition millions of people have enjoyed in the Crescent City. It was a salute to my family's long history, their struggles and their joys. Sentimentally, it's a symbol of the memories of a summer long past and the people who made it one I'll hold dear in my heart forever.
With a little more than week to go until Mardi Gras, I'm hoping to dress two more of my dolls. I certainly have enough beads and charms and feathers to throw my own parade!
Cissy is one of my favorite dolls to dress. Because of her size, I can do so much with her. I hope she'll turn heads when she enters the ball room the night of the 21rst.
Below I've attached some images of exciting posters, lovely vintage postcards, floats and some fun paper dolls I recently acquired. Who knows? I just may dress a doll from one of the paper doll sets - next year!
Let's celebrate life as spring is just around the corner!
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| Yvonne Miranne Murphy |
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