The (, ) is a traditional Mardi Gras event held in many Cajun and Creole communities of French Louisiana on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. is Louisiana French for "Fat Tuesday Run". This rural Mardi Gras celebration is based on early begging rituals, similar to those still celebrated by mummers, wassailers, and celebrants of Halloween. As Mardi Gras is the celebration of the final day before Lent, celebrants drink and eat heavily, dressing in specialized costumes, ostensibly to protect their identities. In Acadiana, popular practices include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, drinking alcohol, begging, trail riding, feasting, and whipping. Mardi Gras is one of the few occasions when people are allowed to publicly wear masks in Louisiana. Dance for a Chicken: The Cajun Mardi Gras, a documentary by filmmaker Pat Mire, provides insight into the history and evolution of this cultural tradition. In popular culture, two HBO series (the crime drama True Detective and the post Hurricane Katrina themed Treme) also make reference to the tradition.
Origins
Barry Jean Ancelet, Cajun folklorist and retired professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, has explained the origins of the in rural medieval France:
These origins are found in the customs of Catholic medieval Europe, specifically the ("feast of begging") of medieval France. During the fête, which was a time when begging from house to house was a socially acceptable behavior, disguised revelers would go through the countryside visiting households and performing for offerings. This is similar to other contemporary traditional European customs such as mumming and wassailing which usually occur around Christmas, New Year's, and Epiphany. These traditions originated in a time when most of the land and money was held by the upper classes. The poor, at the end of long winters and short on food, would gather in groups and make their way from castle to manor house to beg for food from the wealthy, dancing and singing in return for the generosity of the nobles. French medieval carnival celebrations also featured contests and races, which may be the origins of the chicken chase associated with the . A few of the traditional runs have whipping and penance as part of their traditions. These traditions are traced to the medieval flagellants, who would hold processions through the streets whipping themselves and sometimes onlookers to beat the sin out of them. Other of the traditions associated with the are derived from the folk traditions of pre-Christian Celtic Europe and are associated with fertility and renewal. Examples include the use of the burlap whip and the tune on which the are based, both of which are traced back to Brittany, a Celtic enclave on the Northwestern French coast near where the original settlers of Acadia were from. These traditions were carried to North America by European immigrants during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the mid to late 18th century when the Acadian settlers of the Canadian Maritimes were forcibly deported by the English, many made their way to South Louisiana, settling what would become known as the Acadiana region. The Cajuns, as they would become known to the rest of the world, have held on to many of their traditional customs, including their language (Acadian French became Cajun French), music, dances and religious festivals such as the . This determination to hold on to their religious customs and faith has been a major factor in creating the atmosphere that has allowed for the celebration of life, or , that is so characteristic of Cajun life and culture in South Louisiana.
Modern revival Although the tradition never died out, during the 1930s and 1940s it had begun to fade away, especially during the World War II era as many of the young men who participated were away serving in the armed forces. During the late 1940s and early 1950s the tradition began to be revived and in the 1960s got a major boost with the "Cajun renaissance", a grassroots effort to promote the unique local food, culture, music and language of the area. In 1993, documentary filmmaker Pat Mire chronicled the tradition with his film Dance for a Chicken: The Cajun Mardi Gras. The imagery of the event is represented in work by local artists such as Chuck Broussard, Francis Pavy, and Herb Roe and in the name and packaging of a locally brewed seasonal beer.
The increased popularity of Cajun music and culture has also led to more nonlocal attention for the event. In 2011 the NPR show Snap Judgement did a series of interviews at one event and the was used in a story line by David Simon for his HBO series Treme. In 2014 the HBO crime drama True Detective included images of participants and created a cult group whose roots lay partially in the rural Mardi Gras traditions.
In episode 7 of the 11th season of Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain participates in Cajun Mardi Gras.
Traditions
People escape from ordinary life through the alcohol and the roles they portray in costume. In the early morning the riders or runners or Mardi Gras (as the troop and its individual members are known) gather in a central meeting place. As they gather, (the leader of the Mardi Gras) and his co- explain the rules and traditions that must be followed. The usually rides on horseback, wears a cape and carries a small flag. After he organizes the troop, the bands begin to play and he leads them on the route. Traditions vary in each town with the way it is carried out. Some towns have people on horse back, some on trailers and some on foot, and others use a variation of all three methods. The is the first to approach the houses along the route, to ask permission to enter onto their property. At this point, in the spirit of frivolity, individual Mardi Gras will attempt to sneak onto the property. They are held in check by the , who sometimes brandish a plaited burlap whip.
The whips are designed to be flexible and not to inflict any serious damage onto their victims, but do produce a loud noise for the edification of onlookers. Participants claim one has not fully participated until one has been whipped. Once they are on the property, the revelers play a variety of pranks on the farmers and beg for food for the communal gumbo that lies at the end of the route. A prize ingredient is a live chicken, which is usually thrown into the air for the drunken Mardi Gras to chase through the muddy yards and fields.
The Mardi Gras song, known in the local Cajun French as "" and "", is a traditional tune sung by the participants, although the exact lyrics vary greatly from town to town. The melody of the traditional folk song is similar to melodies of the Bretons from the northern coast of France. The tune is played in a minor mode not generally found in other Cajun music. This version is sung at the Church Point :
And the same song in English:
A version of the song by the Balfa Brothers was included in the 1992 film Passion Fish. Many other musicians have recorded versions of the song, with notable artists being Zachary Richard, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, BeauSoleil, Cedric Watson, and Hozier. Costumes Many of the traditional costumes are derivatives of the costumes worn in early rural France during the same celebration. The costumes not only conceal the identities of the participants, but also allow them to parody authority figures and society. Role reversals can be employed such men dressing up like women or the rich to pose as the poor. The costumes also directly mock the nobility, the clergy and the educated; celebrants wear miter hats, mortarboards and capuchons, which were initially designed to mock the tall pointy hats worn by noble women. These hats are still worn, primarily by men. The name capuchon comes from the same root word, in Latin, meaning a cape or hood, that gives us cap in English and in French. Chaperon (headgear) describes the development of the word. The hats are vibrantly decorated to match (or intentionally mis-match) the colorful Mardi Gras costumes that they accompany. The capuchons worn by Mardi Gras celebrants are completely unrelated to the pointy hats worn by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), founded after the American Civil War, and, in fact, predate the KKK costumes by several hundred years.
Originally the costumes were made from old work clothes decorated with cloth remnants and pieces of feed sack material, as many of the participants could not afford to buy material strictly for the event. This led to a patchwork style that has become associated with the costuming of the event. The shirts and pants of the costume are made by sewing together various pieces of cloth in a patchwork style. The strips of cloth are cut into fringing, and are sewn onto the sleeves, up and down the legs, and on the capuchon. The end effect is a riot of color and pattern. These costumes are also believed to have originated in medieval times. The masks are made by taking ordinary wire mesh window screen and attaching large protruding noses and painting on features such as eyes and mouths. The masks are almost see through, but usually not enough to discern the wearer's identity. Many costumes and masks include animal features like beaks, feathers, hair, fur or tails.
Notable celebrations Each community in the Acadiana area celebrates their take on the traditional . Although there are many variations, most still practice the time honored tradition with leading masked revelers on horseback to gather ingredients for making the communal gumbo. A few notable examples have gained attention as vital parts of the local Cajun culture.
Basile In Basile the was suspended during World War II, but was re-established during the 1960s. A provision allowing women to be a part of the has been in place since the 1980s, and they are also permitted to serve as capitaines. The Basile have a tradition of begging for nickels (called ). The participants come up to bystanders with an open palm in the traditional begging gesture, and if that does not work, they will try to dig into the pockets or clothes of the bystanders as a prank in an attempt to find the nickels.
Choupic The rural Mardi Gras in Choupic involves a ritual chasing and flogging with willow tree branches. Young, unmarried men from sixteen or seventeen years old up into their twenties secretly organize the run each year, and they do not disclose their participation in the run to anyone. Once a man is married, he voluntarily stops his participation in the Mardi Gras run. Traditionally, the Mardis Gras were on foot, but today some adaptations have been made, such as the use of pickup trucks and the use of three-wheelers by some participants. The Mardis Gras meet early Mardi Gras morning at Possum Square and then climb into the back of a few pickup trucks to hide. The pickup trucks carry the Mardis Gras from one residential section to another where they chase the children of the town, and make them recite Catholic prayers before giving them their pre-Lenten flogging with willow tree branches or sometimes with the flexible end of a fishing pole. The Choupic differs from other in that it does not involve the chasing of chickens nor ritual begging nor the use of horses as a means of transportation.
Church Point