Seeking & Finding the Truth about Mardi Gras in Alabama

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Hint: You won’t find the truth about the origins of Mardi Gras in Louisiana.  

“We really cherish all our Mardi Gras traditions here.  We’re very proud of them.” It was that sentence uttered by the woman at the museum’s front desk that got my attention.  I had certainly never thought of anything about Mardi Gras as a cherished tradition.  This gave me an inkling that I was about to get a serious education for my $8.00 admission.  To find the truth about Mardi Gras and its traditions, travelers need to visit the Mobile Carnival Museum in downtown Mobile, Alabama. 

My guide went on to say, “New Orleans has the larger Mardi Gras.  Theirs is five times the size of ours, but ours is family friendly.  You’d get arrested in Mobile if you tried half the stuff that they get away with on Bourbon Street.  In fact, if you travel to other neighborhoods in New Orleans, you’ll find other Mardi Gras celebrations that are very different from the one on Bourbon Street.”

Currently, the museum is open from 9:00am – 4:00pm four days each week.  My visit began with an eight-minute movie that told the story of how this famous party began in 1703 with the French pioneers.  The version that we are more familiar with today began in 1830 when a man and his cohorts woke up the Mayor of Mobile with cowbells.  His group (the Cowbellian de Rakin Society) became the first mystic (i.e. secret) society in America.  In 1842, a second society was formed, the Striker’s Independent Society.  The Strikers are still operating today.

From these two original groups, dozens of other mystic societies were formed and each has developed parades, parties and traditions over the generations. Today, there are over 80 mystic societies that participate in Mobile’s Mardi Gras.

In Mobile, The Camellia Ball is held on Thanksgiving weekend and that signals the start of Mardi Gras season, which then runs until Spring. The museum has three floors of permanent and temporary exhibits.  While I was there, the temporary exhibit was entitled, “Bringing the Rocks out of the Bank Box. . . Carnival and Bling.”  It was, as you can imagine, a beautiful collection of jewelry related to the Mardi Gras traditions through the decades.

Perhaps one of the most important Mardi Gras traditions is the election of the King and Queen.  In Mobile, there are actually two kings and two queens.  The Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA) elects King Alexis and the Mobile Carnival Association (MCA) elects King Felix. 

When it became obvious to me from the photos in the museum why there were two sets of royalty, I looked the guide in the eye and asked her if the groups are segregated.

“Well, obviously, in the old days, that’s how it started,” she replied honestly.  “But today, they don’t want to combine for two reasons.  First, they each have their own traditions going back hundreds of years that they can’t bear to part with now.  Second,” she said with a belly laugh, “They’d have to give up 50% of their parties!”  She went on to say, “There is deep respect between the groups today.  Each royal court attends the others’ coronation festivities.”

The carnival museum displays photos of prior Kings and Queens.  In many cases, grandmothers, mothers, aunts and daughters from the same family have carried the title.  In addition, there are sample parade floats so that guests can get a sense of the true size of these colorful contraptions.  

My favorite feature of this museum is the cell phone tour that comes with your admission.  Rather than a guided tour (which are sparse these days due to Covid), guests are given a number to dial on their phone.  There are little plaques throughout the museum with “stop numbers.” Dial the number for your “stop” and hear all about that display.  Having worked in a museum myself for many years, I am familiar with the magic of cell phone tours, and they are truly wonderful inventions.  This cell phone tour has over 70 stops!  I even jotted down a few of the numbers for my favorite displays so I could listen to them again later.  The information on the recordings is different from the information printed on the interpretive panels that you’ll see on the walls.  It is truly well thought-out and thorough.

The most striking (and memorable) displays at the museum are the royal capes, crowns and scepters.  Each one more elaborate than the last, the handiwork seen in these pieces (the capes in particular) is a competition in itself.  Teams of designers and seamstresses sew, bead and embellish the impossibly elaborate creations for months in preparation for coronation day.  The capes often tell the family history of the wearer or include symbols of their hobbies and associations, such as fraternity or sorority membership.  When displayed in groups, as they are at the Mobile Carnival Museum, they can be awe-inspiring.  I confess to feeling my breath catch in my throat more than once at the sight of them.

The historic home that houses the museum didn’t seem large from the street.  However, I discovered that it can easily take more than two hours to see every gallery.  There is a free parking lot on the grounds for visitors.  Personally, one of my favorite things about this museum (besides the very reasonable admission fee) is the fact that I was able to walk there in 15 minutes from the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa  in downtown.

My visit to this museum was educational and I came away with a new respect for the entire concept of Mardi Gras.  However, my visit was also as fun and colorful as one would expect Mardi Gras to be.  I never knew that there were legends and folklore wrapped up in these Spring traditions.  The media would be happy if my concept of Mardi Gras stopped at drunken crowds on Bourbon Street.  I am pleased to say that Mobile taught me that there is much more to the story.  The true traditions are revered and, since they are part of America’s history, they are worth learning.