Towards Bright Colors and Plastic Trash
Mardi Gras.
I can't comprehensively describe all I experienced during Mardi Gras: parades, glitter, king cake, tailgating, daiquiris, music, costumes, traffic, and more! It's like a combination of Christmas season and football season and the 4th of July and Halloween and Thanksgiving, but with a New Orleanian twist.
It is such a huge part of New Orleans. The entire city stops for about a week to celebrate.
Because it's such an identifying aspect of the city I live in, I figured I had to write a blog post about it to share with y'all. But what can I say? It was so overwhelming that my brain hasn't even begun to process the experience. Nothing that I can say will fully describe my Mardi Gras experience, simply because there was so much going on!
As I reflected, though, I thought through how Mardi Gras relates to every single one of the YAV core tenets. So, that will be my way of sharing with y'all!
Simple Living: Mardi Gras felt like the opposite of simple living. Mardi Gras is the entire season between Epiphany (January 6) and Ash Wednesday (the first day of the Lenten season). It's a season for celebrations! In the United States, that means that inevitably there is a whole consumer side of Mardi Gras: specific scarves and leggings and wigs that are only more expensive because they are gold, purple, and green. People spend money on building extravagant costumes and floats. People spend money to be on Krewes and go to balls. Like most people have a special Christmas budget, for presents and outfits, people in New Orleans designate a whole section of their budget for Mardi Gras. As someone with a relatively small stipend, I connected with friends who brought food along that I could have and take advantage of my connections of where I could park instead of paying for parking. I borrowed outfits and made my own minimal costume. I had to be more intentional, but in a cool way that also meant my experience was more personal.
Also, the city produces so much trash! Plastic beads and other plastic trinkets that are exciting for only a moment are thrown to the crowds from the floats. What am I supposed to do with all this?
Cross Cultural Mission: First of all, Mardi Gras is a whole culture in and of itself. New Orleanians feel very strongly about what bakery makes the best king cake. People have their customs and traditions that have been part of their lives for years. They know how to get to the parade routes, which parades they like the best, which spot along the route has access to the best food and bathrooms. There's even a whole apparatus built so that kids can sit and see and enjoy the parades! New Orleanians are staunchly proud of Mardi Gras and defensive of their traditions. The city comes together to enjoy life for a bit together, setting aside difference and problems.
Also, Mardi Gras is a moment when a variety of cultures are all visible. Mardi Gras Indians display their beautiful outfits and have a specific ritual protocol when they meet other Mardi Gras Indians. Zulu is historically black parade that has a completely different feel from other parades. The original intention of the masks were so that people could go out and interact among people of all social classes without worrying about reputation (whether or not that was/is effective is another conversation). People of all cultures find a place in Mardi Gras to celebrate what makes them special and it's celebrated by everyone else around too.
Vocational Discernment: Not specifically related to career, but during Mardi Gras there is a balance of going out and staying in that has to be discerned. Parades and activities and event are happening most weekends for two months and then every day for a week. While I had planned to have Friday night free to relax, Thursday parades were shifted to Friday, so I went out 5 days in a row. I wore myself thin! Tuesday afternoon I came home much earlier than intended and slept for a few hours. Thankfully our house went on retreat immediately after Ash Wednesday, so I had time to recover. But that method for sure isn't sustainable. I found myself thinking about ways that I could do it differently next year to capitalize on the parts I enjoyed and minimize on the parts that were draining. How much do you go out to enjoy and revel? How much do you stay in to make sure you are practicing self-care? What does self-care look like in a busy and crazy season? All these questions are important in making sure you have a healthy balance in social interaction and personal time and having a job whether or not it's during Mardi Gras.
Faith in Leadership: Our city overtly operates on a liturgical calendar from Advent through Easter. My pastor mentioned multiple times throughout Carnival season how this is a blessing and a curse because it makes religion an inevitable part of our lives and the lives of those around us, but that religion can also easily be converted into mere culture. Regretfully, I found myself much too easily lost in the culture without taking the time and space to reflect: what does it mean for religion to be such a huge part of the culture? Does that make it easier or harder to embody the spiritual aspect of the seasons? How do I reflect on what the seasons mean for me individually as a person of faith in comparison or contrast to what it means communally for the city? How do I use what these seasons mean to me to inform how I engage with the city and with others in the city?
Intentional Community: This was the very first thing I realized about Mardi Gras. It is such an inclusive time where communities gather together. One Saturday, my church was holding space for anyone to show up to enjoy the parade. It was a good spot, right at the front and near the beginning of the parade route. My roommate, Sarah, and I went to join my church for this gathering. Then two others of my housemates joined. Then my housemate's friend joined. Then that friend invited three more people. It was a space and a time to be welcoming and embody the phrase "The more the merrier!" Also, most of my various communities gathered together at some point. One night I was at the parades with my host family, one with my church, one with my work, one with my house. It was a time to see each other and be merry!
I would be doing a disservice to claim that this is a comprehensive explanation of Mardi Gras. It doesn't even touch on the deaths that occurred or the trafficking that occurs when there is such a huge concentration of people alongside celebrations or how triggering certain aspects of the celebration were for the residents of Eden House or how incredibly territorial and drunk people get along the parade route.
There are beautiful and terrible aspects of this holiday season, like any. There is so much activity and depth and complexity that I think it's impossible to completely understand from just one season.
If I had to make one statement, I would say that my favorite part was the bright colors and fun make-up that I got to do!
I can't comprehensively describe all I experienced during Mardi Gras: parades, glitter, king cake, tailgating, daiquiris, music, costumes, traffic, and more! It's like a combination of Christmas season and football season and the 4th of July and Halloween and Thanksgiving, but with a New Orleanian twist.
It is such a huge part of New Orleans. The entire city stops for about a week to celebrate.
Because it's such an identifying aspect of the city I live in, I figured I had to write a blog post about it to share with y'all. But what can I say? It was so overwhelming that my brain hasn't even begun to process the experience. Nothing that I can say will fully describe my Mardi Gras experience, simply because there was so much going on!
As I reflected, though, I thought through how Mardi Gras relates to every single one of the YAV core tenets. So, that will be my way of sharing with y'all!
Simple Living: Mardi Gras felt like the opposite of simple living. Mardi Gras is the entire season between Epiphany (January 6) and Ash Wednesday (the first day of the Lenten season). It's a season for celebrations! In the United States, that means that inevitably there is a whole consumer side of Mardi Gras: specific scarves and leggings and wigs that are only more expensive because they are gold, purple, and green. People spend money on building extravagant costumes and floats. People spend money to be on Krewes and go to balls. Like most people have a special Christmas budget, for presents and outfits, people in New Orleans designate a whole section of their budget for Mardi Gras. As someone with a relatively small stipend, I connected with friends who brought food along that I could have and take advantage of my connections of where I could park instead of paying for parking. I borrowed outfits and made my own minimal costume. I had to be more intentional, but in a cool way that also meant my experience was more personal.
Vocational Discernment: Not specifically related to career, but during Mardi Gras there is a balance of going out and staying in that has to be discerned. Parades and activities and event are happening most weekends for two months and then every day for a week. While I had planned to have Friday night free to relax, Thursday parades were shifted to Friday, so I went out 5 days in a row. I wore myself thin! Tuesday afternoon I came home much earlier than intended and slept for a few hours. Thankfully our house went on retreat immediately after Ash Wednesday, so I had time to recover. But that method for sure isn't sustainable. I found myself thinking about ways that I could do it differently next year to capitalize on the parts I enjoyed and minimize on the parts that were draining. How much do you go out to enjoy and revel? How much do you stay in to make sure you are practicing self-care? What does self-care look like in a busy and crazy season? All these questions are important in making sure you have a healthy balance in social interaction and personal time and having a job whether or not it's during Mardi Gras.
Faith in Leadership: Our city overtly operates on a liturgical calendar from Advent through Easter. My pastor mentioned multiple times throughout Carnival season how this is a blessing and a curse because it makes religion an inevitable part of our lives and the lives of those around us, but that religion can also easily be converted into mere culture. Regretfully, I found myself much too easily lost in the culture without taking the time and space to reflect: what does it mean for religion to be such a huge part of the culture? Does that make it easier or harder to embody the spiritual aspect of the seasons? How do I reflect on what the seasons mean for me individually as a person of faith in comparison or contrast to what it means communally for the city? How do I use what these seasons mean to me to inform how I engage with the city and with others in the city?
Intentional Community: This was the very first thing I realized about Mardi Gras. It is such an inclusive time where communities gather together. One Saturday, my church was holding space for anyone to show up to enjoy the parade. It was a good spot, right at the front and near the beginning of the parade route. My roommate, Sarah, and I went to join my church for this gathering. Then two others of my housemates joined. Then my housemate's friend joined. Then that friend invited three more people. It was a space and a time to be welcoming and embody the phrase "The more the merrier!" Also, most of my various communities gathered together at some point. One night I was at the parades with my host family, one with my church, one with my work, one with my house. It was a time to see each other and be merry!
There are beautiful and terrible aspects of this holiday season, like any. There is so much activity and depth and complexity that I think it's impossible to completely understand from just one season.
If I had to make one statement, I would say that my favorite part was the bright colors and fun make-up that I got to do!
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