Mardi Gras season kicks off today! The fun starts with a parade for Joan of Arc’s birthday. The parade goes down Chartres Street, makes a stop at the cathedral for a sword blessing ceremony, then there’s one more pause at this statue to sing “Happy Birthday” before the parade ends. (I took this photo before the parade, since there were too many people around the night of.)
My plan was to walk the parade route in reverse and look for a good place to watch. I definitely failed to plan my seating situation as well as some of the parade goers.
The most crowded spot was in front of the cathedral, but it made for good cheering during the sword ceremony.
I found a spot on a construction barricade just as the parade started with Joan’s cake. Happy 611th! (She was born in 1412 and burned at the stake for heresy in 1431 at the age of nineteen.) The festivities felt a little bit New Orleans, a little bit Last Vegas, and a whole lot of medieval.
The parade sort of followed the chronology of Joan’s life. It started with the Orleans cathedral, then a judge and court, then everyone was dressed as fire, then everyone was dressed as angels.
And there were a lot of dragons!
The Maid of Orleans herself! If she points her sword at you, you get a small wooden sword prize from her assistant’s basket.
The bishop with the guilty verdict. (Twenty-five years after her death an inquisitorial court overturned the verdict.)
“She never thought or did anything against the faith. The judges condemned her falsely,” said Joan’s mother Isabelle.
The parade starts with bagpipes! And some other parade highlights.
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