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official harbinger of the Carnival season is the King Cake. It is basically
an oval coffeecake that can be plain, cinnamon flavored or filled with
cream cheese or fruit. The top is sprinkled with stripes of purple,
green and yellow colored sugar and sometimes has icing drizzled on top.
In this cake is a hidden plastic baby. In the old days, it was made
from porcelain and one bakery here makes a different collectible porcelain
baby every year. Now the tradition is who ever gets the baby buys the
next King Cake. When you have grown up here or have lived here long
enough, you don't look forward to the aggravation of standing in the
bakery to get the next cake, so you learn to swallow the baby!
It has been told that the three colors of Mardi Gras on the King Cake represent the three wise men and the baby is the Christ child. The oval shape represents the coming of spring. I am a little foggy on this point but I think it is the egg shaped thing. Mardi Gras Balls start on Twelfth Night. The balls are the debutante balls of parading and non-parading Krewes. A Krewe is a Mardi Gras club. At some balls, the Krewe will present "tableaux" or living pictures. The lights go out and when they come back on, there are people posing as a living picture. It could be based on a famous painting or a point in history depending on the Krewe or theme. Some Krewes do skits, some Krewes don't do anything, but I am getting ahead of myself. Throws can be a myriad of "stuff" and I do mean stuff! I parade in the afternoon with ladies so our throws are more family orientated. We throw a lot of small stuffed animals, finger puppets, rubber toys (snakes, bugs and stuff like that) and Frisbees. We throw beads that are thematic, (we paraded on Valentine's day last year and I threw heart shaped beads in purple, green and gold as well as red and white) as well as Krewe beads with the theme and date on them. Some of the most popular "catches" are useful |
throws
like the cold drink cozies and plastic "go cups" with our
logo and theme stamped on it. Mardi Gras go cups are like wire coat
hangers. Put two in the closet and a few days later there are dozens!
I also throw Iris footballs and passing out baseball cards. There is
a small sector that collects the baseball cards and I understand that
the secondary market is quite high for them now. They have only been
on the scene for a few years and feature the theme and history of the
Krewe. The most popular beads are the cups and long beads, ones that
come to about your waist. You would be amazed what people (mostly out
of town guests and college students) will do to get a set of long beads!
We have so many cases of beads, we usually start the parade sitting
on them. Last year I had not place for my feet at all until about half
way through the parade!
Doubloons use to be very popular and there are some very ardent collectors. Doubloons are coins of varying thickness and colors. The are struck with the Krewe name on one side and the theme on the other. Usually they come in the "cheapie" which is silver colored aluminum, blue (which is a little thicker too) for our captain's doubloon and this year our theme doubloons are gold, copper and bronze colored. You can also buy specialty doubloons. There is a group set of one each, purple, green and gold thick doubloons that are extra special and highly prized. Every year I buy cloisonné doubloons for my ball guests and any out of town guests that may be staying with us. For myself, I buy a sterling silver numbered doubloon that cost about $20. There is a trick to "catching" doubloons that is in all the MG tourist brochures and one of the first things a visitor will learn right away (next to calling Hey Mister for beads!). When you hear the distinctive "ping" of the doubloon bouncing off the sidewalk or pavement- do not- DO NOT bend over to pick it up!!! You stomp on it, hold you foot there until the float passes. With all those people stomping on those doubloons, you do NOT want your fingers down there! |
