Mardi Gras and the Mistick Crewe of Comus

To Ye Mistick Krewe –   GREETINGS!   WHEREAS, War has cast its gloom over our happy homes and care usurped the place where joy is wont to hold its sway. Now, therefore, do I deeply sympathizing with the general anxiety, deem it proper to withhold your Annual Festival in this goodly Crescent City and by this proclamation do command no assemblage of the   -MISTICK KREWE-   Given under my hand this, the 1st day of March A.D. 1862.   COMUS  
New Orleans Daily Picayune, 1862  

What is interesting about Mardi Gras is that many people do not realize how deeply rooted it is in Catholic tradition.  New Orleans is a Catholic city.  The day of Mardi Gras is determined by what day Easter falls on during that particular year.  Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after a full moon after the Spring Equinox.

 

The Spring Equinox is when the day and the night are of equal length, whereas a Solstice is when the day is either the longest or the shortest of the year.  

 

1866 Comus Parade

Mardi Gras occurs on "Fat Tuesday" or "Shrove Tuesday", the day before Ash Wednesday, which is 40 weekdays (excluding Sundays) before Easter.  One of the symbolisms associated with the 40 days is that Christ spent 40 days in the wilderness. 

 

From Ash Wednesday until Easter, Catholics observe Lent.  Mardi Gras has been described to me in the past as the "last hurrah" before a time of prayer and restraint and a time of spiritual preparation for Easter.  

 

Sketch of 1912 Parade Float

 Because the Mayfairs are a Catholic family, all of these dates and observances are important to them.  The banquet that Michael allows for Mardi Gras despite Rowan's absence is large enough to feed the entire family.  Couple that with Gifford's avoidance of the family during Mardi Gras and her anxiousness to have the ashes on her forehead at the start of Lent, and you've got a very good snapshot of the depth of the family's Catholic faith.  

1880 Comus Invitation

The Mistick Krewe of Comus on Wikipedia

1872 Comus Parade