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Courir du Mardi Gras
Take a 360°
tour of the Courir du Mardi Gras Gallery
Real
Player required
Customs practiced in rural Louisiana, explored through artifacts,
documentary film and photographs, provides compelling evidence
of Carnival's medieval roots. Figures such as the archetypal
"straw man," costume elements like the capuchon, and ritualistic
activities - clowning, begging, gender and role reversal, mock
flagellation - resemble rites associated with village festivals
of twelfth-century Europe. The courir (run), a seemingly chaotic
quest to obtain ingredients for a communal gumbo, actually involves
a complex system of rules. Characteristics of activities specific
to individual rural communities can be linked to the French
f´ête de la quémande, wherein disguised revelers visited countryside
households, performing for offerings; other European-derived
customs such as belsnickling and mumming; and certain Afro-Caribbean
traditions. Because courirs historically have taken place in
isolated areas where illiteracy was prevalent, the historical
record is sketchy. The exhibition does, however, contain rare
photographs and oral evidence of early twentieth century activities.
Encased in this gallery are two costumes, discovered in a house
in New Roads, that date from around 1910.
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