| Show A A t x M N th nUl 0 HARD MARD GRAS THE CR m wan flap lJ iI the tho culminating crowning event cent 1 I tl ing In triumph of tho carnival sea Ben season Om voul vouly son Hon tho celebration of MartI l or Fat 1 Tuesday aY falla this year ear on the of but have hlll I already been heen by 11 which It rl her y IR fondly Condly hoped the Crescent Ct cent 1 prestige will 11 be he moro than maintained f The Tho week begins what hUB has haswell c well Ill All been hm called tho 11 iw high tide of the tho 03 I season nn with the tho nn ich ichi I 1 the balls spectacular nud so BO 1 generally r It Is saying a t great reat deal Illat to declare l that this revels and routes will 11 i jn n i h 11 F rk surpass of or nil former yours hut but lV m it what the carnival committees promise they always more than fulfill though fu tt their doings nrc so o enshrouded In mys ms mystery l tery that nobody not nol even If It n a 1 pont pant known In advance the character of tho celebration in Its entirety Tho In IJ t l however may ma be beI I outlined as n follows Thursday Feb Joeb 14 I nt night the parade of ot the Knights of Monday Mon ay Feb 18 nt noon the arrival of ot Rex at ut night tho Knights of 01 v to Proteus wilt will parade MarlI arM Oras Feb eb wB V 39 19 at noon reception to Rex Hex the king at night the grand ball of 01 Comus at nt It which Rex Hex and his queen preside and with which tho festivities come to an 1111 end Whatever the tho character of the during tho th vc k preceding Orn or 01 Shrove Tuesday however hOlever fast and furious the fun has been Ileen on that day all they the are aIe at ot their height end only onty nt tho stroke of midnight There alO usually four great parades on ont Monday and Tuesday two ouch euch day t In tho conception elaboration of or ort t which more Ingenuity Is displayed than limn limnI I would to build amI equip a 1 hat bat hatt t D Take for example the tho Ilex parade of ot last year ear This wn Will an In Inin ot of the tho in Revels by b means menns of or 19 beautiful tJ tab tabt oil contained en as ns many hugo huge floats t n title float which there thore was tho I tb save the key to tho tableaux tableau in the following follow lag sequence Butterfly minuet frog ballet dance Ilance of oC the flower dance dane danca Inferno donee dance danco of If the fairies bacchanalian cel Indian I 1 11 a 11 maypole dances mosquito dance serpentine rainbow finally the dance sn j The rewo last year pro pre t the Triumph of Comus also on 19 On the title cn was a II h ler lr head resting on ft olden golden shield and tho of may be Imagined from the following floats which Palace Under the Sea Sen Jupiter nt at the tenter of oC the Earth Oracles of D DeI DeIhl l phi hl ond of Pho Iho 1 I Protecting Parts icing ot If th the Apollo mid Imd mide Ie e Muses lu Helen Uel n the Worlds H u uy X y the Golden of Tho Way to the Hyperborean Land Glaucus OIn cus anti and the thc FisheR Loses the Haco Jason and tho Gold Golden en I Fleece Fl ece School Ocea Oceanus Oceanus nus Leaves Prometheus The Island of the tho Blest HercUles and The Amazon Queen Thin Thill mere I t of ot attractions In but two of tho processions will convey nn an t V Cl CI to lo sub suh substantial n whole twelvemonth I form torm to the tho conception that charm fascinate the spectators for Cor fora a 1 few short hort hours and then tiro II O rele relegated gated gatell to the limbo of ot departed great greatness ness One of 01 the most wonderful things In connection with the tho carnival and especially with the tho Oras festivities ties tics Is the secrecy which envelops ev cv associated with Rex the tho vari various ous knights and even the vast and gor gorgeous which Individually and collectively collective burst upon the public at the appointed time with alt all the clamour ot mystery enhancing the tho charm of or novelty I Rex the kin for tor Instance Is I sup I cs d 1 to be unknown to everybody but T P v if v v V wv w ITS GREAT CARNIVAL CARN VAL himself until ho unmasks If It he lie I chooses at al the last great ball on the th night of 01 For I or dayn weeks preceding his arrival fictitious i announcements nrc made as OR to the progress s of 01 his voyage vonce or 01 Journey whether by sea Ma or on land and the first real Information of ot his hIli presence Is when the tho distinguished citizens are arll I A PROCESSION OF FLOATS AT MARDI GRAS Idea of the elaborate art manifested In thc tho Interpretation of ot the themes but buti i cannot convey coney nn n conniption 1 lof of the beauty of II the completed product No sooner Is ono onti than tho tM various committees me m t to formu formulate late Inte plans for the next event which H It Is 18 tacitly tacit I understood shall ll I eclipse those thos of preceding years So It to lo mcM mep Mm him to receive recelo the freedom The first Intimation that tin th ns IS re receive receive of his arrival Is when the cry Is raised taken up and repeated all over the city Rex nex is herd herel and by that time he Is In their midst Even Enn the Immense Im mense floats and the vast aggregation of ot papier po pier mache figures which give gle workmen artist employment years end to years end and con n o profitable business ore kept from the vulgar gaze ilZe during nil th tho long term of their Inchoate state slate an only when fully equipped It 11 Is 11 of course generally generall known tha t the carnival c had hul Its lis origin orl ln In the an dent clent festival of vale to meat which preceded the abstention from fleshly pleasures during the thu 4 40 days ot of Lent As i s Byron Dyron says Til TI lout It out All ot tile the Catholic Berne Seme Wore Shrove cornu about The people tike Uke fill of 01 recreation And Imy bu tIe tre crow devout However h h thell rink rank ol 01 low their With foiling drinking mask mart martin maskIn in inAnd InAnd And other which mi mal be had hll for In the western hemisphere ilard Is celebrated wherever the Latin peoples predominate as ns In Mexico South America etc but the tho homo of the carnival In the United States ia Is conceded to be bo Louisiana where the Mardi Gras has been de declared dared a legal holiday The Tho fetes des fous of the French and their or Fat Jat Tuesday with Its b gras or fat Cat ox its processions and were first transported to New Orleans about iO 0 years ago but bul the chief features tea tures of the pageants which have differentiated the Crescent City carnivals from all others are ol of Inter date The merrymakers known ns 18 the tho Mys tick I of Comus were Introduced In 1557 having been suggested by Comus which was then for the first time spectacularly rendered The ap appearance of ot Rex dates from at which time also the Twelfth Revelers r made their bow to the public ind in addition there thero are the Knights at of and the of at Proteus ill all these mystic personages and ties working harmoniously toward one great reat result the triumphant success s of King Xing Carnival Tho evolution of or these unique and ex extraordinary extraordinary pageants the spectacular recessions and finally the brilliant ns a culminating In the grand mil ball of ot Gras Grilli when great Rex the lie king chooses the most beautiful woman In New Ne Orleans for his queen hal ins been one of the matt wonderful of ot he the lesser artistic developments of the tho thera era ra WILLIAM WILLIA J RUDOLPH |
