The Courir de : A South Tradition

“It has been said that a Scotchman has not seen the world until he has seen Edinburgh; and I think that I may say that an American has not seen the United States until he has seen Mardi Gras in .” — Mark Twain

For hundreds of years, revelers have celebrated Mardi Gras throughout the world, from Rio de Janeiro to Nice, and Venice, Italy. But in Louisiana, we believe the first modern Mardi Gras happened on March 2, 1699. That’s when Iberville and Bienville, two French explorers, landed just outside of New Orleans. They named the spot Pointe du Mardi Gras and held their own celebration. Over one hundred years later in 1827, the streets of New Orleans would fill again with dancing merrymakers in colorful costumes for a day of celebration before the Lenten season.

Now fast forward ten years later, the first-ever parade with floats rolled down the streets of New Orleans, sparking a tradition that carries on today. Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Fat Tuesday, is celebrated with purple, green, and gold decorations. History says in 1872, the first daytime King selected these symbolic colors based on their meaning: purple for justice, gold for power, and green for faith.

Photo Courtesy of Lafayette Travel

Courir de Mardi Gras

While New Orleans may host the best-known Fat Tuesday celebrations, veer 140 miles west to discover colorful Mardi Gras traditions held in Lafayette, Louisiana and surrounding towns and villages. Parades typically kick off ten days before Fat Tuesday as the area celebrates with rowdy revelry. Photo Courtesy of Scott Clause/The Advertiser

In the countryside, you’ll find carousers celebrating the Courir de Mardi Gras, or the Mardi Gras run, which occurs in many towns throughout Louisiana’s Cajun Country. Rooted in French medieval history, the Courir de Mardi Gras features participants on horseback, foot, and wagon making their way through rural neighborhoods. These revelers customarily dress in colorful costumes, masks, and a tall cone-shaped hat called a . In accord with tradition, celebrants go from house to house singing and dancing as they “beg” for ingredients for a communal to be shared later in the night.

And the main ingredient of that delicious gumbo is — you guessed it — chicken! A horse-backed Capitaine leads the Mardi Gras run, releasing chickens for participants to chase on foot. It’s quite a sight to see these partygoers chase after chickens as they did in olden times. The air is electrified with live , courtesy of a tractor-pulled bandwagon coupled with much singing and dancing.

Photo Courtesy of Scott Clause/The Advertiser

Beads — The Jewelry of Choice

The Courir de Mardi Gras makes its way through rural neighborhoods and into the nearest town for a community-wide parade. Several dozen floats roll down main streets along with exhausted chicken-chasers and those on horseback, too. Crowds line the streets to catch the celebrated jewelry of the event — Mardi Gras beads! These quintessential plastic strands of every Mardi Gras parade evoke shouts of “Throw me something, Mister!” from parade-goers. Have you ever been to a Mardi Gras celebration in Louisiana? Share your experience with us in the comments below.

Feature Friday – Brandon Boudreaux

I started in my family’s jewelry business working and summers during college to learn the ropes. I always knew I wanted to become the 4th generation to lead Boudreaux’s Jewelers. In 2013, I came on full-time after playing NCAA baseball and graduating from Tulane University in New Orleans. After learning the basics of our business, I traveled to attend GIA for my G.G. in early 2014.

My wife Rebecca’s ring

On a day to day basis, my father and I run our three retail locations from our original location in Metairie, just outside New Orleans. We have 21 employees including sales associates, accountants, inventory controllers, secretaries, and bench jewelers. I’m involved daily in client services and sales, employee training, marketing, finances, in-house design, CAD, diamond and gemstone sourcing, appraisals, and quality control for our in-house workshops. I’ve become the head designer for our Boudreaux’s Signature Collection and custom design work for our clients. I have really enjoyed the CAD and custom design work. It gives me a break from sales and numbers and lets me exercise parts of my creativity. The piece I’ve enjoyed working on the most was a custom ring that I just happened to create for my fiancé when I proposed last year.

Our store is different from any store in Louisiana because our clients can walk into any of our three locations and deal directly with a Boudreaux family member no matter what they need. It could be a battery replacement or a 10-carat diamond. They have the pleasure of knowing a Boudreaux is serving them. I don’t know of another store in Louisiana with multiple locations that have a full family presence in each.

In the past few years, technology has vastly impacted our business. We have CAD, 3D Printers, advanced inventory systems, and POS software. When I joined the business, my first goal was to introduce cutting edge inventory and POS system. Such technology helps to sure up our inventory and better serve our clients. In the shop, we’re utilizing Matrix and the use of a state of the art 3D printer to help us make each and every design as exact as it needs to be.

Because we’re not far from Stuller, we’ve used them for findings since they first opened. As Stuller has grown to become what it is today, we rely on them for so much more like workshops and education as well.

We participate in Mardi Gras by making medallions for a few local Krewes to present to the Kings and Queens of their organizations each year. It has become a tradition to work with the groups each year. We even keep all their molds on file so we’re able to create the same piece year to year. For more about Fat Tuesday and why Louisianans celebrate, read Why We Mardi Gras here.

Throw me something, mister!

As if all the holiday excesses weren’t enough (oh, don’t pretend you didn’t eat too much at Thanksgiving), we start celebrating Mardi Gras season on the Feast of the – a mere 12 days after Christmas! It’s six weeks of rich, fatty (and therefore delicious) food, lavish carnival balls, festive parades with ornate floats, and all-around merriment. The entire season culminates on Mardi Gras day (French for “Fat Tuesday”), when we really do it up before , the beginning of the penitential season of .

You might associate Mardi Gras with New Orleans, the city known for its extravagant parties and raucous parades, but Lafayette and other communities throughout have their own unique celebrations. Here in Lafayette, Mardi Gras krewes maneuver their giant floats all over the city while kids and grown-ups alike shout, “Throw me something, mister!” in the hopes of scoring beads and doubloons. Mamou, Church Point, Basile, and other small towns in the area celebrate Fat Tuesday with the Courir de Mardi Gras (“run of Mardi Gras” in English). This fascinating tradition involves – among other unusual activities – convening at sunrise, donning crazy costumes, riding horses, brandishing whips, and chasing chickens (yes, really). Mix with copious amounts of alcohol, and you have a recipe for hilarity. Of course, with horses and buckets of hurricane cocktails, things can sometimes go awry (uh, not that I’m speaking from experience or anything), but on the whole, the Courir de Mardi Gras is ridiculously fun.

At Stuller, we celebrate Mardi Gras with – what else? – food. (No, I’m not telling you how much I consumed this season, but in the words of Shakira, “hips don’t lie.”) Departments throughout the building join in the festivities by decorating their spaces with purple, gold, and green streamers. And on the big day itself, we bring crockpots with gumbo, links of boudin (a yummy Cajun sausage), platters of cracklin, and lots more. It’s the kind of experience you’d expect from all the fun-loving folks who work here.

Even if you don’t celebrate Mardi Gras where you live, all of us at Stuller wish you the reverie of the season. And if you’ve never been to Louisiana for the big day, I hope you’ll consider coming next year. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Have you ever been to Louisiana for Mardi Gras? Tell us about your experience in the comments section.