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Chapter Summary And Analysis: Carnival In Louisiana By Brian Costello

853 Words4 Pages

For a tradition as storied and fantasied of as Mardi Gras, an encyclopedic account of its origins and traditions has long been overdue. Such an account is provided within the new book Carnival in Louisiana: Celebrating Mardi Gras from the French Quarter to the Red River, written by Brian Costello. The work is an impressive feat of research and storytelling that it is imbued with a deep spirit of love and excitement for the celebratory nature of Carnival. In the course of the 198 pages, Costello takes the reader through the multiple cultural landscapes of Louisiana, exploring the unique customs associated with each community's festivities. Costello’s achievement is a book of encyclopedic depth that is continuously exciting and enriching for …show more content…

Costello is a lifelong resident of New Roads, Louisiana, and an 11th generation Louisianan. He is positioned as the perfect narrator for this history as both a professional historian, working in the Coupee Parish Library Historic Materials Collection, and a former king of the New Roads Lions Mardi Gras Carnival. This gives Costello a unique point of view, from which he explores the multiple facets of Carnival from the new innovations of the festival to the historical records of past generations of revelers. He is also able to mine the multiple experiences one has at different levels of engagement with Carnival, from the unorganized masking to the elaborate parades and balls of the …show more content…

This is an area of history that has rarely been explored in such depth and nuance. Similar to other chapters, there is a large amount of cataloging of the origins of different custom, their transformations through time, and intersections with historical events. In these sections we are treated to stories of the interior life of many communities and their tradition-making in an intimate and spontaneous fashion. Each anecdote contributes to a fuller picture of the meaning of Carnival in Louisiana. One such tale showcases the resilience of Mardi Gras, when in 2014 the commitment to celebration was tested in the St. Mary Parish. When a bout of freezing rain threatened to cancel the festivities, those determined to observe the holiday in some way came out to see the King and Queen who organized an impromptu airboat ride on the Bayou Teche, tossing goodies from the waterway to revelers unperturbed by the circumstances. This portrayal of the spontaneity and freedom of Carnival is complemented by meditations on its cultural significance. On Fat Tuesday in the inland Lafourche Parish the community’s paraders are swarmed by bands of masked men who playfully chase and “whip” children with switches as a form of symbolic repentance indicating a long pre-Lenten tradition dating back to ancient times in Europe. Costello does justice to the multiplicity of

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