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Mardi Gras as a Celebration of Medieval Life
Mardi Gras Menu
The Carnival celebration came into full swing just as the Western Roman Empire was passing the torch to the Holy Roman Empire in all matters spiritual and to local nobles and kings in most matters temporal. Where in ancient times recently past the local authority might be a Roman centurion or even a counsel, now it was your local Bishop. The Bishop was not the pious administrator and leader of the flock that we know today, rather he was a theologian and warrior but not necessarily in that order.
This was the beginning of the middle ages, a one thousand year stretch of the good old days when yesterday stayed pretty much the same as tomorrow. This was a time when subsistence in this life was preparation for enjoying the bounty of the next life. Government policy, what there was of it in Europe mostly consisted of fighting among local nobles and when things got too rough finding a good reason to get the local gentry on the road to fight else where. This left the Bishop, who couldn't run off to fight elsewhere at home taking care of the peasants, and women and children of the noble families.
St. Michael the Arch Angel on the Facade of the Church of the Sacred Heart on Mont San Michele in Paris.
The Bishop most likely also had a family in the nuclear sense, because Bishops were often elevated within hours of their conversion to Christianity. All of this leads to the point that the Bishop was most likely a man about town respected as a leader before elevation and as interested in keeping the peace with in his bishopric as with saving the souls of his flock. If you look at Church history between the fourth and fourteenth century you will find many a prelate who if he could not get pious behavior from his flock was willing to send them on to the next life so that they could be someone else's challenge.
Naturally as the man with the whip or mace or sword in one hand he held balm, absolution and the control valve in the other. The Bishop therefore oversaw the Carnival from two perspectives, the worldly, cut loose, have fun, drink a few meads, tell a few tales, chase a few damsels point of view, and from the Spiritual leadership role of not too loose, not too much mead, a lie is a lie anytime, remember St. Paul's advice regarding marrying and burning, etc.
A Domed Church in Paris.
Relying on God's help by providing inclement weather, his knowledge that families that stay cooped up together tend kill each each other and the knowledge that the hangover after sixty days of partying will carry any one through forty days of penance, the Bishops turned the Lupercalia of ancient Rome into carnival. Featuring intermittent religious activities, allowing the parish peasants to form quasi-ceremonial royal courts, and to treat each other with the respect and good natured derision that flowed from fake office, the Bishop was able to sanction behavior that otherwise would not be tolerated and thereby keep control over the populace with minimal resort to magisterial discipline.
Flash forward four centuries and several thousand miles to the west and we arrive in the North American city of New Orleans. This remarkable French city on the Mississippi was from it's birth different from all other colonial cities on the continent. New Orleans allowed every one who arrived to remain just as they were and therefore instead of it being a melting pot it became a rich spicy jambalaya, with a decidedly French flavor. Part of that flavor was carnival. Here Carnival had a little more Caribbean zest but it retained its distinctly medieval flavor which meant that the various parishes would set up their own courts, host there own royal balls, develop protocols for passing the crown, scepter and even princesses around among the mock aristocracy.
As time wore on in the ever changing American era, the courts of Carnival became populated by the local gentry of our classless society and today Carnival is concluded by Mardi Gras parades in which the city, country and to some extent the world come to see the Carnival and to party with the very exclusive "Krewe Royalty." Bearing the names of Greek and Roman antiquity the courts are conducted with pomp and costumes that would have made Charles the IV jealous. Each court prides itself on decking out their royalty with the most lavish, sophisticated and beautiful royal outfits. The king will be accompanied by his pages, the queen by her ladies in waiting and both will be protected by their knights in traditional medieval foot armour. The krewe coat of arms have also developed into rigorously protected symbols which are displayed with all the solemnity of the Cross in a Church. While the parades are public the krewe balls are held exclusively for the members and an invitation to such a ball is considered by any outsider to be a very high honor.
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