In 1703 Louisiana, you can almost taste the air of salt water and damp pine.

You're standing on the muddy banks of the mobile river.

It's quiet, not the quiet of peace, but a small, weary settlement.

Trying to remember home.

Suddenly a group of men emerges from the fog.

There are no flashing lights or towering floats.

Instead, they march behind a wooden bull's head pushed on a cart.

This is the Boeuf Gras a society.

They aren't throwing beads there defiant.

Celebrating a fat Tuesday before the lean somber days of lent begin.

It's small, it's rustic, and it's the first heartbeat of a tradition

that refuses to stay small.

The clock skips forward to 1890 and the silence is shattered.

The smell of pine is replaced by the thick stench of horse

manure, cheap gin and gunpowder.

You're in the French Quarter now.

It's a fever dream gas lamps flicker against the sweat slicked faces of

thousands torches, flambeau are carried by men dancing through the streets,

lighting up massive precarious wooden floats that look like rolling cathedrals.

The crowd is a sea of velvet and silk.

But look closer.

It's wild and it's dangerous.

Men in heavy masks use the anonymity to settle old scores.

The inappropriate is the status quo.

It's a riot dressed in lace, a city, letting out a year's worth of repressed

screams in a single drunken night.

Today.

The chaos softens into a roar of joy.

The smell of gin is gone.

Replaced by the sugary scent of the hot king cake and charcoal smoke

from a thousand sidewalk grills.

You are on St. Charles Avenue.

The sun is shining through the Spanish moss.

You aren't ducking for cover.

You're reaching up a toddler perched on a wooden ladder beside you.

Shrieks with delight as a plastic strand of purple beads

drapes over their shoulders.

The floats are now neon lit giants, and the music is a wall of sound

from high school marching bands that shakes the very pavement.

This isn't a riot anymore, it's a family reunion.

It's a million people sharing a collective breath of Laissez les bons temps rouler.

From a lone bull's head to a global stage.

This is the story of how a feast became a legacy.

Welcome to Talk With History.

I'm your host Scott here with my wife and historian Jen.

Hello.

On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired both travels,

YouTube channel journey, and examine history through deeper conversations

with the curious, the explorers and the history lovers out there.

All right, Jen.

So there's no secret on this one.

We did Mardi Gras.

We went to Mardi Gras.

We went to Mardi Gras and experienced Mardi Gras to the

fullest that I can handle.

Anyways,

yeah, so we have friends who are part of crews, like they're a part of

these families that have established long-term traditions of being crews on

different floats for different parades.

And we'll talk about these.

Parades, how they become traditional.

Their names the Iris BCUs and Damion.

Orpheus.

There's these parades that happen, especially the last five days before

Mardi Gras, which means Tuesday Fat.

Fat Tuesday.

So Mardi Gras means fat Tuesday.

Yeah.

And when you say Cruz, it's not like the crew that you would spell CREW.

It's K-R-E-W-E.

Yeah.

So it is a very Louisiana, very New Orleans.

Tradition.

Yeah.

They're like these social clubs basically, they call themselves and they follow

the same parade schedule, and it's a very elaborate thing that they do.

They plan it all year long and they plan their float theme and their throws, and

we'll talk more about those throws and.

It's a big tradition.

They wear masks.

Uh, again, it's that tradition of Mardi Gras masks, but basically it's the

celebration leading up to Ash Wednesday.

It's a, it's wrought and Catholicism in the Christian tradition of sacrifice,

of giving up something for Lent.

And so it's this great celebration of abundance before the sacrifice starts.

Yeah.

So most of the time people would fast for Lent, and so this is like.

Eating all of your good food and partaking of all your good drink

before you, you know, go dry for Lent.

And so it's supposed to be this great celebration of, you know, all your

blessings before Ash Wednesday starts and then lent for the 40 days before Easter.

Now it, it shifts because Easter is kind of based on that big first

full moon, the spring Equinox.

In the year, and because that shifts.

Mardi Gras shifts.

Yeah.

But it typically starts on 12th night, and you'll hear people say 12th

Night a lot in the New Orleans area, because that's when Mardi Gras starts.

It's January 6th and it'll start then and go all the way until.

Fat Tuesday.

Okay.

And so about two months.

And that's why you'll hear different parades will start and they're not

quite as popular or as big or as crazy as those five days before.

Yeah,

Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday, but they have their own like little traditions

leading up to those two months.

So is that where.

I mean, is that really where it started from the very beginning, right.

1703 ish.

Somewhere around there is like, they were just like, Hey, we wanna

have a good time before lent.

So Mardi Gras has always been.

Something from the French culture, the Italian culture, the Spanish culture

because of the Catholicism and the, again, celebrating the abundance before lent.

So it was brought over.

If you know anything about New Orleans, it goes under French rule, Spanish rule.

Back to French World, into America.

So it's brought over by the, the colonialists, right.

Who are bringing over their traditions as they come to the new land.

And uh, so it's first celebrated in 1699.

Oh wow.

And it's that early celebrated because, and it's just a, it's just

like a recognition of some people from the new, from from the old

world who are celebrating their.

Religious tradition

now.

Is it true?

I remember, I think 'cause we went last year.

No, we didn't go for Mardi Gras last year.

Like we went the week prior and we went with our friends and we got to see the

floats because again they're part of the cruise, you know, and our, our friends.

Uh, they're from there and, uh, have family history there and have

been involved in this, in the B crew and for quite a long time.

But one of the things I remember hearing was, isn't it like, isn't

it mobile or something like that claims the first Mardi Gras.

So is that kind of like still a contentious thing?

It's a contentious thing, so yes.

Mobile.

So you have to realize New Orleans wasn't really a established city and mobile

was a part of the Louisiana Territory.

And it was more of an established city, and so they claimed the

first ever Mardi Gras celebration.

Now, the first parade didn't start until 1837.

Okay?

But new but mobile will will claim this first celebration in the early 17 hundreds

because I, I think even before we went down and I was

looking up something online.

You know, you'll see online ads for Come to the Oldest.

Mm-hmm.

You know, Mardi Gras celebration, you know, in America.

And that's, it's in mobile.

Yes.

Like mobile claims it.

Yeah.

Although New Orleans is probably the biggest.

Yeah.

And what more people think of when they think of Mardi Gras and,

uh, the first Mardi Gras parade happens in New Orleans in 1737, so.

You get the first in 1730, you get the first celebration with dance

and masking and the costuming.

Which is really a lot like Carnival.

So if you think of Carnival, that happens even today in like Venice or

Brazil again, all with this Catholicism and celebrating the abundance before

Lent where the masking happens and the masking still happens in New Orleans.

And what, what's the significance of the masking?

It's to, it basically erases that social.

Hierarchy, you kind of hide your face, and so everyone's on an equal playing field.

We all are celebrating together kind of how you would go to heaven.

Like when we go to heaven, we're all gonna be on the same playing

field, so that's kind of how they.

Look at it, you're masking yourself so you no one knows where

you are on the social ladder.

And we're all the same and we can all party the same.

And, and I think, I believe they even like eventually passed a law.

Mm-hmm.

That said, you're riding on the floats, you have to be masked.

Yes.

Yes.

And again, that it's just part of that tradition and fun.

Yeah.

Like we knew our.

The people that we knew who were gonna be in the parades,

So just to kind of put it out there, went down to Mardi Gras.

We did a couple days.

We got that on a Friday night.

And it was luckily for us, it was over a long weekend and I took

an extra day vacation from work.

Got there down on Friday night, hung out with friends Friday night, and

then we saw two different parades.

We saw the first parade Saturday morning, and that was kind of a

little more low key, a little more fam, family friendly, but they were

almo, you know, 99% of the people that I saw on the floats were masked.

Mm-hmm.

They were wearing a mask the whole time.

Now I did see a fair amount of people Yeah.

That weren't wearing masks, and I was kind of wondering like,

do they actually enforce that?

You know, I'm not sure.

And then as the, the, the days went on, I saw, I saw less and less people with

masks, more so if it was nighttime.

But, uh.

So I, I did see people without masks, but it was, I mean,

it was a, a full blown thing.

So it's funny, they wear like these masks to cover their eyes and then

like a, like a baic drape over their face, I guess, to help them breathe.

But like you said, some wear it and they're very, uniform 'cause

they're wearing all these same kind of costumes and then some don't.

I don't know who would actually enforce these rules.

I'm

sure it's not enforced

and how it works.

But what's really significant about Mardi Gras is the throws.

Yeah.

So what do we got to experience this for the first time.

I have a throw here just so you can kind of see like it's beads, but these can

be pretty significant and pretty heavy.

Yeah.

So for our listeners, Jen's holding up what looks like a Mr. T chain.

You know, like, like full on thick plastic chains with, you know, the classic Mardi

Gras colors of gold, green, and purple.

Yeah.

And those colors are significant as well.

The.

Purple stands for justice.

The green stands for faith and the goals for power.

So you can think of the purple has like that royal color, right?

And so it's the justice with the royalty and, and finding justice in the world.

The green for your faith, right?

This is like basically based on a Catholic holiday.

And then the gold is for power that we all.

Hold the same power.

And so those are the three colors of Mardi Gras.

So you'll see those three colors everywhere and people

will throw these chains, people will throw socks, people will

throw, yeah.

All, all sorts of stuff.

Cups.

And they become very significant.

People want these throws and.

We went with nothing.

We left with bags of things.

It was crazy.

So many beads.

So many cups.

I, we get off with 30 pairs of socks and we were handed different cool things,

sunglasses they do all these little, yeah.

Nichey kind of things.

Now.

I looked it up.

So some of the original throws the whole.

Thing didn't really start till the sixties.

Oh, wow.

And so it didn't really start till the sixties.

So Cruz used to throw sugarcoated almonds, as as, I guess part of the thing that

they're kind of throwing out, right.

Because again, you're out there.

You celebrating abundance.

Mm-hmm.

And then glass beads.

So glass beads have actually been around for quite a while and we had

I think we were able to get one or two little things of glass beads and

they, they throw 'em in little packets.

Right.

'cause you don't, not throwing 'em glass at people, but

that's what they used to throw.

Yeah.

And.

You gotta be aware because they can hit you.

I got drilled right, in the left side of my face one night.

I wasn't looking.

And I think they, they, they were throwing these like bouncy ball

things that would light up at night.

Yes.

And I got, I got just drilled right in the left eye and, and everybody saw it

'cause I just wasn't looking at all.

So after that, my head was on a swivel.

Anytime a, anytime a uh, a float was going by.

So what's significant too is if it's a night parade,

they throw a lot of light up.

Beads.

Yeah,

those are fun and or, or light up things that you can hold.

And so you have some people wear them and it's really, it's a

lot of fun, but there's so much, there's so much left behind.

And I read that they collect these beads afterwards 'cause

they don't want them getting into, you know, the drainage system and

they recycle them for next year.

Uh, but it is a lot of fun.

It was a lot of beads and, but to be in New Orleans and celebrate this, it to

be in the place where this originated.

There's a lot of tradition there.

And so it's not just the parades and different parades

have different traditions.

There's the iris parades with, with just women on the floats.

The, the, the BCUs parade, which just men on the floats, and then sometimes

they're associated with these, these balls, like these fancy uh, events.

So you dressed up and so we went to the BCUs Ball and Scott Ward's uniform.

I wore gown.

And you still stand there and collect your throws.

Yeah.

In your dress outfits.

And, and it, it was wild.

I was telling a couple people about the, the BCUs Ball.

I, I didn't, it, it, it exceeded any of, all of my expectations because I just

kind of didn't, I kind of figured a big party, I figured a few hundred people, you

know, maybe a thousand on the big side.

Someone told me there was 18,000 people at this ball.

And it was so interesting because if you, if for our listeners and for our

watchers picture, just the largest convention center that you can think

of with all dividers cleared out.

So it's just this massive, massive space.

Like we could barely see to the other end of it because they had it set up, I think

there was like maybe a thousand tables.

There was a center section and outside sections and they could actually drive.

They could tow the actual floats into this convention center and do

a loop around the center section of the tables where we were.

So we were like in between of the loop of floats as they were

coming through with all the bands.

It was, it was so, so overwhelming.

It was, it was fun.

And then they had these bands, and I'll talk about the bands because

our listeners will appreciate some of the bands that they got and

some of the singers that they got.

But it was wild,

so.

The bigger balls.

I use that word.

So BCUs, Orpheus, they get these celebrities Yeah.

To be like their kings of the ball and so, or kings of the, of the parade.

Yeah.

So you get your Bist king, you get your Orpheus King.

And uh, this year we had a putty from Seinfeld, and I know Orpheus had, uh, Noah

Wiley from, uh, er in the new pitch show.

And

I mean, and they had like.

Like a second celebrity?

Yes.

Is Anthony.

Whatever the, the Falcon who took over the Captain America role.

Yes.

I don't know his name.

Anthony.

Anthony something.

Yes.

Another actor.

So, but, and then they get fa very famous performers to perform music for the night.

And there's been like ZZ Top.

And this year we had a Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray

Jefferson, Starship

Starship,

which was I, I was sitting there and I was like, man.

These guys are really, really good.

They sound just like, just like the music and our friend turns

to us like, that's the band.

Yes.

I was like, no freaking way.

And if it's neat, it's, you know, in 2020 they estimated 1.4.

Million visitors come in for this.

Really?

So this is like when people say I did Mardi Gras, they think New Orleans, right?

They think 'cause it Mardi Gras celebrations happen all over the south.

Really?

But when you say, I went to Mardi Gras, people will think you went

to New Orleans and it is a big.

Tourist thing for New Orleans.

And one of the things that I, I mentioned in kind of my, my introduction story

was some of the, the torch bearers.

Mm-hmm.

And that's actually like a very historically accurate thing.

'cause they would carry it.

'cause they have to see, right.

Yeah.

They're doing this at night and we had actually seen in one of the.

Parades that we watch.

I can't remember which one.

We saw these, these guys walking around kind.

Kind of in like an homage.

Yeah, it was

in Deion.

It

was the night one.

Yeah, it was the night one.

But they had these like propane tanks strapped to their back and

they had these like big old torches and so it was, it was kind of it.

And you were telling me like, oh no, that's what they used to

do way back in the day because they'd have to see at night.

And so that was actually.

Like a thing that they actually continue to do for these night parades.

So they still try to keep some of that history there as we saw

when we went down here in 2026.

Yeah, it was super neat to be a part of it all and to to be a

part of all of the mass crowds.

So you gotta be ready.

There's a lot of people, like I said, 1.4 million people, but everyone.

Seemed to get along.

But I, we, we saw everyone really getting along.

They had a lot of law enforcement out there making sure that

things were getting along.

But, uh, it was really a lot of fun and to be a part of.

But it's a lot.

You gotta kind of pace yourself.

We walked about 10,000 steps every day.

It's a lot of walking.

Uh, and so very loud.

So Scott was talking about the bands.

They have these marching bands that are basically scattered, uh, within

the floats and marching bands from.

Local New Orleans high schools.

We saw some from Memphis High schools and they always seem to stop right

beside us with the drums and the horns.

It's so loud and it's very loud.

So you have to be, I had, if you see any of the videos or

uh, that we have on Instagram, I have earplugs in the whole time.

Uh, but another tradition we partook of is the king cake.

Yeah.

So they have this cake that is very.

Traditional New Orleans, and it has the frosting with the three

colors on it, and it's like a pastry taste, A lot like a cinnamon roll.

And they put a little glass, baby Jesus in the king cake.

And if you, I think it's

plastic nowadays, but

yeah, I think it used to be glass.

Yeah.

And if you got the baby Jesus in your.

It's supposed to bring you good luck, and then you're supposed to throw the

next party, you're supposed to bake the next king cake and throw the next party.

So, uh, we did not get the baby Jesus, but, uh, but it's kind of fun if you ever

have a king cake that that's inside there.

Yeah.

And, and that's a big thing.

Like I, I've worked with people in the Navy who are from New Orleans, and

they're always you, you end up in some navy building and around Mardi Gras,

somebody's from New Orleans, and there's always, there always ends up being

a king cake somewhere in the spaces.

Yeah, exactly.

And so we had to have it, we had to try it.

Of course, all the other Southern fair, we had some great, uh,

crawfish bread and gumbo and eating all the seafood that was there.

But we also, you know, there's a lot of history in New Orleans.

We have a whole video of the history and we were gonna do some

of the cemeteries there, but.

Because of all the tourism, they have shut down the ones that are

closer to the city for public access.

And you have to, you can only visit them, especially St. Louis, number one,

which is the most famous one that is the closest to the downtown of New Orleans.

You can only access it by a tour.

And you can imagine the tours were pretty sold out at

expensive for this time of year.

But we wanted to talk about that history of bearing people above ground because

a lot of this Lent and Mardi Gras, you're kind of dancing around this

idea of heaven and the afterlife, and that's a very big New Orleans thing.

And, um.

New Orleans started bury people or started the cemeteries in 1780s, uh,

the late 1780s, but they didn't start bearing people above ground till 1805.

And they started doing that because of the water table there, because

how close they are to sea level, actually kind of below sea level.

And they would bury people in the ground, but the first flood or hurricane grandma

would go floating down the street, right?

So they would be like, oh my gosh, we have to get her and put her back in the ground.

And so what was the.

Better way to do this is they brought over this idea from

France, as you can imagine, right?

It's very French, Spanish influence there and started to bury people

above ground in these tombs.

And if you know anything about New Orleans and humidity and heat, these tombs

really act like ovens, like brick ovens.

And after a year and a day.

They will open the tune back up and bring the bones out, and it's another

kind of party because that's all that's left of you after a year and a day.

It doesn't matter when they put you in a year and a day later.

If you make, if your body goes through an entire Louisiana summer, after a year and

a day, all that's left of you is bones.

After that time, everything has.

Basically disintegrated off of you.

Yeah.

And so they bring the bones back out, celebrate that, and put

the bones back into the chute.

And then they reuse the tomb for families.

So you'll see these tombs in New Orleans family tombs that have 20, 30 names.

All those bones are in there.

And at one time the body was in there and that is their family tomb.

And so they really treat these cemeteries.

Much like if we saw our video of pier cliche, like little neighborhoods with

little streets and little houses of your family and you can walk through

them and celebrate them and long-term tombs, long-term family tombs that

have been there, that are part of the original families of New Orleans, uh,

we were not able to do that, but it's very much a part of their culture

there and a part of that whole, I would say, the mystery of the city.

So, uh.

Just know that we were out there celebrating and we got to be a part of it.

Uh, it would probably be our last time doing that because it, it's a lot and we

had to be away from the kids for four days and it's, uh, it's a, it's an expense so

you can think of the crews that do this.

It's an expense to do this as well.

But they were celebrating America two 50 and so that's really

what brought us out there.

And I actually made a walk with History Bead specifically for it.

And I walked around with this, and so they had a lot of America, two

50 beads and a themed floats, and that's really why we were there to

celebrate America two 50 at Mardi Gras.

It was also coincided with our wedding anniversary.

It was really great for walk with history to be there.

Uh, we were recognized, so that was super fun as well.

But if you wanna know like a little history of it, if you're

interested in going, uh, hopefully we have some ideas for you.

My recommendation if you go to Mardi Gras is go with someone who has done

it and go with someone who has some access to something and has plans.

It is nicer to be on the grandstand.

It's nicer to be kind of higher up.

It's kind of nice to know.

Where's good places to eat?

Where's good places to stay?

It's if you went just for free for all, you probably would be just fine.

It's the city seems ready, but it's kind of nice to have all

of that planned out for you.

So again, follow us on Instagram, you'll see more of that of

how we experienced Mardi Gras.

But, uh, happy Fat Tuesday to everybody.

Happy lent to everybody.

And leading up to Easter.

as the last float of our journey rounds, the corner and the flashing

lights fade into the distance.

We're left with more than just a sidewalk covered in plastic beads and glitter.

We've seen Mardi Gras evolve from a desperate act of remembrance in a

swampy outpost to a gilded, dangerous masquerade, and finally into the massive

inclusive heartbeat of the Gulf Coast.

It's a holiday that has survived fires, yellow fever, outbreaks,

world wars and hurricanes.

And why does it persist?

Because at its core, Mardi Gras isn't about the inappropriate

chaos of the past or the commercial spectacle of the present.

It's about defiance.

It's the collective decision of a people to stop time put on a

mask, and celebrate the sheer joy of being alive before the lent of

everyday life begins again tomorrow.

Whether you're catching beads in New Orleans or catching celebrations

in the Cajun countryside, you aren't just watching a parade.

You're stepping into a 300 year old dance.

So next time you see a stray purple bead caught in the cracks of a sidewalk,

remember, the party never truly ends.

It just waits for next year.

We'll talk to you next time.

Thank you.

This has been a Walk with History, production Talk with History is

created and hosted by me, Scott Benny episode Researched by Jennifer Benny.

Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

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Our eternal thanks go out to our lifetime members to help keep us going.

Thank you to Doug Liberty, Larry Meyers.

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Lynch, Dino Garner, Mark Barrett, Don Kennedy and John Simpson.

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