NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The moderate carnival season begins Wednesday after the coronavirus pandemic ended the dances and street parades that attract thousands of people every year.
The Mardi Gras season always starts on January 6 and ends on Fat Tuesday, which this year falls on February 16.
The coronavirus put an end to these major events. But that did not stop the notoriously creative New Orleanians from presenting socially distant ways of celebrating.
Jeanne d’Arc Krewe is a club that annually honors the fallen French hero with a parade through the French Quarter at the official start of the carnival season. This year, the krewe is hosting a “Tableaux by Jeanne d’Arc”, where viewers will drive through several “tableaux” – a French term for “living images” – which will include stations of costumed revelers fighting like knights, sharpening their swords and partying in a big fireplace with a pig roasting in the background.
“Normal life is over, so we had to look at different ways of doing things this year,” said Antoinette de Alteriis, one of the club’s captains.
Phunny Phorty Phellows, a group that usually meets on January 6 to mark the start of the season with a party in a streetcar, is also changing its plans. Usually, crowds of people gather at the facilities where the tram begins its journey to say goodbye to the group, but this year people are invited to disperse along the tram route and watch from there.
But people can still eat cake – king cake. Sweet cakes, decorated in the official colors of carnival, purple, green and gold, can only be consumed from January 6th.
In Mobile, Alabama, dozens of parades, balls and other events have also been canceled. The city on the Gulf of Mexico calls itself the birthplace of Mardi Gras, as the celebrations started there a few years earlier than in New Orleans.
Coastal Alabama typically begins its observance later in January than New Orleans, which means that the current rise in coronavirus may be slowing when events are set to begin. But several organizations began announcing cancellations last month to protect the health of members and revelers.
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Associated Press journalist Stacey Plaisance contributed to this report.