Mardi Gras Cajun Style

by Penny Holeman

Not all Mardi Gras is glitz, extravagant floats and lavish throws like those captured on video in New Orleans. I am not Cajun nor Creole or even Louisianne. But at a house party in Breaux Bridge I spotted two dancers wearing wire mesh masks unlike anything I'd seen before. Their faces were completely obscured by the mesh which was painted and gaudily decorated. With their loose-fitting fringed suits they were totally anonymous. I was fascinated.

Asking around in Lafayette produced no information, no mesh masks. It was only when we hit the small town of Eunice that the mesh masks reappeared. A handful were being sold in a local store. The creators are local.

Mardi Gras Courir Costumes We were in Eunice to see the courir "literally" run that is so much a part of the Cajun prairie towns. Each town's courir seems to be uniquely evolved but there is a common structure. The Capitaine and his co-capitaines are the organizers. Riders assemble and follow a day-long, predetermined route to visit neighbors. Each stop has a ritual including songs, begging for food or money, playing tricks and infamously running after and capturing live chickens.

Originally the Mardi Gras, or group of riders, would amass the makings of a gumbo. Now the riders return to town for a parade, waving their captured chickens or riding backwards or trying to stand up on their horse's back, tossing beads. Outhouses bedeck most of the floats that carry yet more Mardi Gras.

The couriers differ by community. Some are men- or women-only; others are mixed. Cars or trucks have replaced horses in some towns. Needlepoint masks have been popularized by some maskmakers. Yarn creates beards and mustaches and long, pointed noses may be attached. What's popular depends on the community but ugly is the goal. Store-bought is now mixed with home-made.

Mardi Gras, beside referring to the day before the start of Lent, is the term for the individual or group of revelers. The mask, in one form or another, is key to the costume. Add to that the loose-fitting 2-piece fringed suit and above it all perch the capuchon, the tall pointed hat, and you have a recipe for an anonymous prankster, beggar, thief and fool.

I don't pretend to know all about the Mardi Gras or the courir. All this stems from seeing the fascinating mesh masks at the house party in Breaux Bridge and searching for more information.

Penny Holeman

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