Twelfth Night
Wed. January 6, 2010 – This event has expired!
The Mardi Gras season officially begins the twelfth night after Christmas, January 6. While “Mardi Gras” specifically refers to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the phrase is also used to describe the weeks of festivities that culminate on that special day. New Orleans locals traditionally usher in the Mardi Gras season on Twelfth Night with an official ball, a streetcar parade, and informal get-togethers featuring king cakes.
One of the oldest institutions of New Orleans’ Carnival is the Twelfth Night Revelers. This krewe, or Mardi Gras organization, first paraded in 1870. Public parading ceased twelve years later, but as it has for over a century, the krewe still holds an elegant, traditional ball every year to celebrate the beginning of Mardi Gras. The French Quarter restaurant Antoine’s has devoted a dining room to the Twelfth Night Revelers containing a gallery of old photos and memorabilia.
The Twelfth Night Revelers ball is a private affair limited to members and their guests, but another old Mardi Gras organization called the Phunny Phorty Phellows brings its celebration to the public. This krewe first emerged in 1878 as a satirical group following behind the dignified, formal parade of Rex on Mardi Gras Day. The group lasted only six years, but the Phellows re-appeared in the early 1980s to hold an annual Twelfth Night streetcar ride. Each year, krewe members dress in masks and costumes, hire a live band to play traditional New Orleans music, and charter one or more streetcars. As their party is swaying along the streetcar tracks, they greet waiting onlookers and toss beads to them. It is the only “streetcar parade” during New Orleans’ Carnival season.
Many New Orleanians prefer to mark the beginning of Carnival season at their homes with family and friends by hosting informal Twelfth Night parties. At the parties, a king cake is invariably served. These doughy, ovalshaped cakes are decorated with the Mardi Gras colors of yellow, purple, and green. In each one, a plastic figure of a baby has been baked. Tradition says whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby has to hold the next king cake party. These king cake parties continue throughout the Mardi Gras season. Each year during Carnival, it is estimated that 75,000 king cakes are eaten in the New Orleans metropolitan area.
