Travel can bring tourists to unexpected places and opportunities to try new things but nothing could have fully prepared me for my visit to a Cajun country Mardi Gras, in rural Arnaudville, Louisiana.
I joined local revellers at their annual pre-Lent celebrations during a previous Mardi Gras season that still tops my list of strange travel adventures. How could it not when one of the day’s many highlights was an organized chicken chase in a farmer’s field.
A Cajun country Mardis Gras, also known as Courir de Mardis Gras, is a stark contrast from New Orleans’ carnival style Mardi Gras, with its grand balls, pageantry, glamorous costumes and plastic beads tossed from lavishly decorated floats.
A two-hour drive from New Orleans, Arnaudville is a small community in the state’s southwest. Its Courir de Mardi Gras is more of a moving tailgate party, with a handful of revellers on horseback and dozens of people, dressed in homemade costumes, swaying to Cajun music looking for mischievous fun.
A merry band of partiers and musicians on a flatbed truck playing foot-tapping instruments — including a button accordion, a washboard, drum, triangle and fiddles — didn’t get into too much trouble along the Oak tree-lined dirt road, despite a few jumping into mud puddles. But once we arrived at the main event, the music stopped and the real chaos began.
One unlucky chicken was tossed above the crowd, and folks scrambled to catch the fast running, wings-flapping-vainly bird, doomed to become part of the communal gumbo happening later that day.
If you are “running” in the Courir de Mardi Gras, held in many Cajun communities throughout Louisiana, you have to be dressed for it.
A few days prior, I got into the Mardi Gras spirit by taking a mask-making workshop at the Vermilionville Historic Village, in nearby Lafayette, hot gluing scraps of fabric, ribbons and other embellishments onto a conical hat and mesh face mask.
The idea behind the mask is to hide your identity so you can “play” with abandon during Mardis Gras. Beer and other alcoholic drinks, which are a big part of the celebration, also seem to help with that objective.
For my Courir de Mardi Gras mask, I used material with a dog print, googly eyes, fake fur trim, feathers and sequins in two of the three Mardis Gras colours of purple and green. (Being a dog lover, I preferred to go with the dog print over adding the third Mardis Gras colour of gold).
And while I may have looked like I was one of the participants, with their “anything goes” masks, I had no idea of how it would all end that dreary February morning, waiting for the leader of the Mardi Gras festivities, known as the capitaine, to begin the raucous procession.
While a Cajun Mardi Gras traditionally allows men only on the Mardi Gras run, with women watching from the sidelines, the one I attended was organized by women and putting them in the heart of the merriment.
In fact, while men could participate in this family-friendly event, they had to be “in the back of the Courir,” according to the rules, listed prominently at the farmhouse entrance.
The fun started early, with a few of the participants already drinking beer at 9 a.m. when the group was asked to gather around the porch to go over the rules before setting out. Drinking was allowed, but the capitaine reminded everyone they can’t get “too drunk” or they would risk being “removed from the run and contained.”
Other rules included not carrying weapons, no fighting, no underage drinking and anyone doing the chicken run had be in full costume with a mask and wearing a capuchon (the cone-shaped, ceremonial hat).
The capitaine, who was unmasked and wore a cape, drove a quad bike during the procession, in case fast action was necessary. She was tasked with what seemed to be impossible: maintaining order among the merrymakers. To do that, she wielded a ceremonial whip, and also has a white flag.
She used the flag when approaching homeowners, along the procession route, to ask permission for the Mardi Gras to enter their property and entertain them in exchange for gumbo ingredients, such as rice and sausage. A raised flag is also the signal revellers could enter the property and “beg” for gumbo contributions.
Food goes to the very heart of what Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday,” is all about.
It started in the 16th century in medieval France, with a celebration the day before Ash Wednesday, on the Catholic calendar, with people indulging in rich foods. The poor, dressed in tall hats and silly costumes to mock the nobility, would perform skits and songs in exchange for food before the Lenten fasting season began. Mardi Gras traditions were brought to the United States in the 19th century, and in the past few decades have helped revitalize Cajun culture in Louisiana.
If there was ever a good time to visit Louisiana, it’s during Mardi Gras season, with celebrations happening now till Mardi Gras day on Feb. 13. If you do visit Cajun country, be prepared for a good time experiencing ancient, but odd, traditions — something you will likely never forget.
Many communities in Louisiana have celebrations planned, including traditional Courir de Mardi Gras events.
A Courir de Mardis Gras at Vermilionville, the living history museum in Lafayette, is set for Feb. 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and in the city of Eunice Feb. 13 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For a full list of Mardi Gras events in southern Louisiana go to lafayettetravel.com.
If you go
• Meat eaters can’t go to Cajun country and not order boudin (a sausage made with rice) and cracklins (fried pork belly) and one of the best places to get the local dish is at Chicken on the Bayou Restaurant in Breaux Bridge, about an 18-minute drive north of Lafayette. This popular Cajun restaurant also serves other Louisiana favourites like grilled catfish, fried crawfish and farm-raised alligator. In the restaurant’s shop, you’ll find Cajun seasonings with names like “Slap Ya Mama” and “Cajun Tipsy Chicken Seasoning” featuring a drawing of a drunken chicken.
• If you want to see alligators in the heart of Cajun country, visit America’s largest freshwater swamp for an airboat tour with the Atchafalaya Basin Landing and Swamp Tours in the small town of Henderson. The airboat gets you up close to ancient cypress trees as you search for gators in the murky waters, full of plants and wildlife.
• To better understand the region’s history, visit Vermilionville Living History Museum & Folklife Park, in Lafayette, a recreated historic village. On the on nine-hectare property, staff, dressed in period costume will regale you with stories about the people who lived in this area of South Louisiana until the end of the 1800s, beginning with native Americans and the others who joined them — Acadians, Creoles and people of African descent.
