It was a beautiful sunny weekend
here on the Gulf Coast and it’s that time of year when
Mardi Gras permeates everything. Mardi
Gras was a foreign thing to us Northerners when we first moved here. I couldn’t believe the kids actually got a
couple days off of school for it. I
guess when you don’t have to worry about making up snow days, an extra holiday
here or there doesn’t matter that much.
Anyhoo, there are several parades over the course of the MG season and
one of them goes right down the nearest cross-street from our house. Many MG parades and events around here aren’t
exactly G-rated, but this one is because it’s really a kids’ parade, so at
least most of the participants are not drunk.
We usually attend this little parade together but since I came down with
the crud, The Husband had to go Saturday and enjoy it by himself.
This guy is targeting someone to pummel I swear, they actually aim at you |
MG parades still mystify
me. They consist mainly of several
decorated trailers hauling a bunch of folks who throw stuff at you. It’s usually not even stuff that you want,
like $50 bills or (dare I say it) balls of quality yarn. It’s mostly cheap plastic beads that either
end up hanging from your rearview mirror in the car, sitting in a pile
somewhere in your house until you get tired of seeing them and throw them into
any random drawer to get them out of sight (along with the previous year’s
collection), or laying in various and sundry gutters along the parade
routes*. The exception to this is when
they throw Moonpies (which The Husband scored a few of - yum!) or, I hear this
year, one restaurant was throwing actual wrapped chicken sandwiches (which The
Husband did NOT score any of and I was sad).
Each trailer comes equipped with NASA-sized speakers emitting music at a
decibel level one notch past deafening.
There are also dance teams, men all dressed up who may select you to
receive a flower from them and who expect a smooch in return, and some local
“celebs” I probably should know but don’t, riding in convertibles doing their
best parade wave. I have as yet to see
one single marching band in any of these parades. Where are the stinking marching bands?? How can you possibly have any sort of parade
without at least one measly marching band?
(Yes, I was a band geek years ago.)
So, all this to celebrate…
I. Don’t. Know. What.
And neither do most of the
folks having the party. Okay, don’t
write me a novel about what Mardi Gras is about. I already Googled it. Historically, it’s to do with the time
leading up to the Christian season of Lent.
Fat Tuesday is generally a day to gorge yourself on all sorts of
everything before giving things up for Lent.
This is taken very seriously in some countries and cultures. But here, Lent has very little to do with
it. Here, it is not just about Fat
Tuesday, as the celebration starts several weeks prior to that day. Here, methinks it be an excuse to engage in
merry-making and revelry for an extended period of time. Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time, now would
it? :-)
So I’ve decided to embrace
the idea of Mardi Gras, but with some changes. First, my Mardi Gras will no longer be
referred to by that name. Henceforth, it
shall be called Planquer Gras, meaning Fat Stash. Trailers will be loaded down with fiber
people who will throw lovely skeins of merino and the like as well as other
desirable knitting stuffs. While we’re
at it, let’s get some spinners on those trailers as well. Convertibles will showcase our local yarny
heroes like Lady L. who, instead of doing a parade wave, will be a moving
demonstration of cabling or some other such technique. Trailer decorations will be of the fiber
persuasion, of course. Instead of local
dance teams, we will feature teams of synchronized knitters. I’ll have to insert at least one marching
band to be true to my former band geek glory but we’ll see that each member has
something wooly on. Next year, we shall
spend several weeks engaging in sweater-making and Ravelry (see what I did
there?). Yep, I’m liking this whole
idea.
Oh, and just one more
thing. The Moonpies can stay.
*** ***
***
*There are several good recycling programs for beads. Yes, I said "recycling" and "beads" in the same sentence.
I think I much prefer your newly reinvented version of Mardi Gras!
ReplyDeleteRight?!? It would be awesome!
DeleteI love it! I'd definitely go to a parade like that!
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a great improvement! : ). Thanks for reading!
Delete