Mardi Gras Sunday

There were two parades that I saw today. The first was Okeanos, whose theme was children's stories - including everything from fairy tales to Fred Flintstone. It was a lot of fun and Cece would have loved it. The second was Thoth, which all these pictures are from. (All of today's pics are at my picture website.) I think the parades today were far better than Endymion last night - the floats were way better, more interesting, and the pace was quicker which kept our attention.

Thoth's theme this year was historical - this is the Declaration of Independence; others included the Battle of New Orleans, Fort Sumter, Boston Tea Party - our shift ended at the Industrial Revolution so I didn't get to see the 20th and 21st centuries. Everybody on the floats is dressed up thematically, wearing masks (which still way creep me out; apparently they get huge fines by their Krewe leaders if they aren't masked the whole time).

I loved Thoth because it had the historical educational theme, but also because they were totally generous - throwing tons of stuff even though there wasn't a ton of people where we were. See everybody with their hands up - ready to catch. Also, Thoth didn't apparently bean anybody with all the stuff they were throwing - nobody came to us for any medical care, no abrasions, no broken teeth, nothing like yesterday. It will be a very sad day when New Orleans realizes it has to limit its liability and forbid throwing from parade floats.

Thoth is of course after the Egyptian deity, so there was that fun fake-Egyptian stuff on the "We the People" and other such floats. This is the title float which separated the Thoth royalty (very cool floats & costumes) and faux Egyptian Thoth floats from the rest of the "We the People" parade.

The Egyptian Jesters, a new head float.

It looks just like the tombs I saw in Egypt. :)

Here you can see the hotel balconies across the way, people milling about, while others are begging for beads, including some on ladders.

Here's the real reason I totally dig on Mardi Gras. People stalk out areas and then camp out.

They spend their time chatting with friends and family, children playing. Check out the ladder platforms. (And yeah, I need a ladder. As a native told me yesterday - "you're at a disadvantage because you're short and female." And it's true. Lots of stuff was snatched out of my grasp yesterday.)

And it's such a family time. Check out the wagon - like the one we pulled around yesterday with Bekher and Nicholas. Kids were playing everywhere, having a great time.

And so much BBQing going on. People were there for the longhaul - with comfy chairs, coolers, full grilled meals. Yum. I need to be adopted.

So now that I've made this case attempting to convince y'all that Mardi Gras is all about mellow family fun, I do need to give the whole picture. This guy filling his Camelback with Crown Royal was not alone. Lots and lots of people drinking, and some really quite drunk. And lots of underage drinking, which offends my sensibilities. But again, no injuries on my shift, so it's all good.