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Mobile Carnival poster from 1900. Floats lining up for an Order of Inca parade in 2007. Mardi Gras is the annual Carnival celebration in Mobile, Alabama.It is the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States, started by Frenchman Nicholas Langlois in 1703 when Mobile was the capital of Louisiana. Although The Big Easy in Louisiana is perhaps best-known for its Mardi Gras revelry, the port city of Mobile, Alabama, founded in 1702 by French settlers, lays claim to being the city that first Carnival, American Style: Mardi Gras at Mobile and New Orleans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. "Mardi Gras in Mobile: Excerpts from the 1908 Diary of Young Visitor, Senta Jones." Gulf Coast Historical Review 11 (Spring 1996): 69-76. Mardi Gras Vertical Files, Mobile Public Library Local History and Genealogy Section, Mobile, Alabama. History of Mardi Gras In 1703, Mobile, Alabama was the first city recorded to have the oldest organized Mardi Gras in the U.S., according to Curious Cuisiniere. "The first documented celebration of modern-day carnival, what people think of as carnival in the United States is historically without a doubt began in Mobile. Start your Mardi Gras adventure in Mobile at the Mobile Carnival Museum. The Mobile Carnival Museum highlights the history of Mardi Gras in its true birthplace - Mobile, Alabama. The museum features 14 galleries, video presentations, a pictorial hallway and an interactive float area - all in a restored historic mansion. Experience: Carnival, the extended Mardi Gras season, is Mobile, Alabama’s, greatest living tradition. First introduced to the United States in Mobile by the French in the early 18 th Century, Mobile is the original home to Mardi Gras in the US. The celebrations are increasing grander and more diverse with each passing year. Related Reading: History of the Mardi Gras King Cake. Fun Facts About Mardi Gras in Mobile . 1. The celebration’s traditional motif is green, purple, and gold. Gold and purple have always been the colors of Mardi Gras in Mobile. Purple has long been associated with European royal dynasties. It is also the liturgical color of Lent in Christianity. While Mardi Gras is commonly intertwined with New Orleans, the true history of where the celebrations started lay in Mobile, AL, around 1703, making it an over 300-year-old tradition. Whether you live around Daphne, Fairhope, or other Alabama communities, the Mardi Gras tradition remains alive and well near Spanish Fort, AL. There is no evidence that he was ever a member of a Mobile Mardi Gras mystic society. In 1867, 10 years after Comus was established in New Orleans, the Order of Myths was founded as the first Mobile Mardi Gras parading mystic society. And, the next year the Infant Mystics were founded as the youthful “Gumdrop Rangers.” They say the first Mardi Gras celebration in America took place in 1703, when a group of French soldiers held an impromptu celebration in the settlement of Mobile. Their proof is in the fact that, not more than a year later, Frenchmen Nicholas Langlois established a Carnival organization called the Societe de Saint Louis which held their masked Originated in 1703, Mobile is THE birthplace of America's original Mardi Gras. Joe Cain is the man. He brought Mardi Gras back to life after the Civil War by leading an impromptu parade down the streets of Mobile and we've been doing it ever since. He has a whole day dedicated to him during Mardi Gras is a Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. It's most famously celebrated with parades in New Orleans Mobile, Alabama is the mother of mystics, the original birthplace of Mardi Gras as we know it! Each year, the city and its surrounding communities come together for weeks of parades, masked balls, MoonPies and merry-making leading up to Fat Tuesday, a season that is collectively known as Mardi Gras. The Sunday before Fat Tuesday is also host to another singular Mobile Mardi Gras tradition, Joe Cain Day. The holiday’s namesake is credited with developing most of the city’s longstanding Mardi Gras traditions. In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile), similar to those that form our current Mardi Gras krewes. It lasted until 1709. In 1710, the "Boeuf Gras Society" was formed and paraded from 1711 through 1861. 600 points = A strand of Mardi Gras beads from Toomey's 1,000 points = A Visit Mobile magnet handcrafted by MuffinJaw Designs Studio Please note: Visit Mobile is not responsible for paying admission fees to the Mobile Carnival Museum and History Museum of Mobile. All associated fees and costs must be paid for by the "Mobile Mardi Gras Knights of Revelry parade down Royal Street in Mobile during the 2010 Mardi Gras season. In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans, founded in 1718. [33] The first Mardi Gras parade held in New Orleans is recorded to have taken place in 1833 with Bernard de Marigny funding the first organized parade, tableau, and ball. The Mobile’s Mardi Gras traditions trace back to 1703 when French settlers held the first celebration to commemorate their first year of survival in the community they built. Today, the lively festivities showcase a variety of cultural influences and feature parades, elaborate costumes and other prized traditions. The History of New Orleans Mardi Gras . Although the date of the first organized celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans is debatable, the 1730 account of one Marc-Antoine Caillot (a young clerk sent to Louisiana by the French Company of the Indies) mentions a celebration with music and dance, mask-wearing and costumes—including cross-dressing. Bienville also established "Fort Louis de la Louisiane" (which is now Mobile) in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated America's very first Mardi Gras. In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile), similar to those that form our current Mardi Gras krewes. It lasted until 1709.
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