LAFAYETTE, La. — Barry Ancelet has spent decades observing the traditions of country Mardi Gras.
"The reason why we celebrate Mardi Gras is because our ancestors did," said Barry Ancelet, Professor Emeritus of Francophone Studies and Folklore at UL Lafayette. "This is one of the celebrations that we've preserved up to today, and it's been greatly adapted—it's evolved—to reflect this new environment over the last two, three hundred years, but it also has very interesting roots, all the way back to medieval France."
Though many of us think of the Mardi Gras traditions that are considered "urban," like parades with floats and beads, there are other ways of celebrating, known as a country Mardi Gras or Courir de Mardi Gras.
"One of the things that makes south Louisiana so unique in terms of its Carnival traditions are these country Mardi Gras runs. This is something that is disappearing in the Francophone world," said Rachel Doherty, Ph.D, assistant director for programming and special projects at UL Lafayette's Center for Louisiana Studies. "We wanted people in the Acadiana area who have the opportunity to participate in one of the many Mardi Gras runs that happen in the area to really understand what Carnival means."
These Carnival traditions include parties of performers wearing elaborate, handmade costumes with masks, voyaging through the town, singing, dancing and drinking.
"All of Mardi Gras has music that accompanies the processions and parades, but in a country Mardi Gras, the participants sing—either they or the musicians who are with them—sing a begging song," Ancelet said. "It's a ceremonial begging song for—one ceremonial begging song for a chicken, the other one ceremonial begging song for a bottle."
"You can't actually go to someone's house and have the Capitan voyage ton flag and go and ask for a chicken to chase unless you're singing and dancing and doing the ritual performance to the song," Doherty said.
The point of begging for these items is to collect ingredients for the community gumbo, filling the townsfolk's bellies before Lent.
Though the scarcity of food during the time of Lent is not as prominent as it once was, these traditions continue to serve as entertainment and a representation of south Louisiana culture these country towns.
"We are who we are. You know, we are our culture, and you know, we are what we eat. We are where we live. We are how we dance. We are how we celebrate Mardi Gras, and it's a part of our identity, and it's good to know," Ancelet said.
