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Gian Durand dedicated her ride to New Orleans activist Dorothy Mae-Taylor, who helped diversify Mardi Gras parades. Gian Durand now reigns as the first Black queen of New Orleans’ ALLA parade All hail the queen. As a kid, Durand remembers seeing Mardi Gras parades on Crowder Boulevard in New Orleans East, where she grew up. Her parents, she said, started out poor, but eventually became A “cultural revolution on wheels.” That's how the Krewe of ALLA describes its Mardi Gras parade this year. Named in honor of Algiers, La., the 93-year-old New Orleans krewe rolls through On average, over one million tourists enter the city in the final days before Mardi Gras, more than three times the city’s 2024 population of 357,767. The increase in people has an undeniable For traditional male krewes, the king is usually a member of the krewe, while the queen is often a debutante. However, this varies from krewe to krewe, particularly women’s krewes, in which the queen is typically a member of the krewe. The King of Rex is considered the King of Mardi Gras, and the leader of the festival celebrations. Inspired by the skit "There Never Was and Never Will Be a King Like Me," the original Zulu parade costumes consisted of grass skirts, black tights and turtlenecks, and blackface. Zulu was the first parading organization to feature a queen during Mardi Gras and featured the first queen's float in 1948. Cedric Angeles. Every year, krewes recognize two young adults as the year’s Mardi Gras king and queen, and the pair is presented at a grand ball that typically includes a lavish coronation, live bands, dancing, and celebrating well into the night. NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Gian Durand and James Carter have been crowned as the first Black Queen and King in the Krewe of Alla’s 93 year history.Their reign is more than just a celebration – it is a tribute to Dorothy Mae Taylor, the Civil Rights leader and political trailblazer who desegregated Mardi Gras krewes in 1992, paving the way for greater inclusivity in the city’s most After the Civil War, businessmen and civic leaders invented a benevolent monarch to reign over a daytime parade on Mardi Gras. Rex and his queen — a debutante chosen by krewe leaders largely on the basis of her father’s prominence and her familial connections to past Rex royalty — came to be recognized as monarchs of the entire Carnival The Mardi Gras Queens visually represent not only beauty and stateliness, but cultures that have not popularly been associated with royalty – African and Indigenous. Queens within the Mardi Gras tradition are primarily expected to exhibit beauty as an accessory for the chief. Neither the women nor their suits are supposed to outshine the chief. When used in the context of modern tourism promotion, it generally implies a somewhat ambiguous, romanticized mélange of indigenous architecture, food, music and Old World customs. “Creole Mardi Gras” has a more specific meaning, however—referencing the celebration in the antebellum era, before the advent of the krewe system. The Mardi Gras Queen is chosen through a process of nominations and voting. Any member of the public can nominate a woman to be the Mardi Gras Queen, and a panel of judges will then vote on the nominations to choose the Queen. Miss Emma Butler was the first queen of a Mardi Gras ball in 1871. BONUS: According to legend, Mardi Gras colors influenced the choice of school colors for archrivals Louisiana State University and Tulane University. They say when LSU was deciding on its colors, the shops in New Orleans had stocked up on purple, green, and gold for the Mardi Gras season. But while a krewe has royalty, the positions of king and queen are merely ceremonial. The identities of the queen and her maids are usually public, while the identities of kings are often secret—Rex being a notable exception. The power behind the throne, however, is the captain, whose identity is typically kept secret. Mardi Gras is a Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. Also known as Carnival or Carnaval, it’s celebrated in Mardi Gras Krewes are social organizations or groups that put on parades, balls, and other events during the Carnival season leading up to Mardi Gras. Krewes are a significant part of Mardi Gras celebrations, organizing and participating in various festivities, including elaborate parades featuring floats, costumes, and throws (items tossed to Mardi Gras (UK: / ˌ m ɑːr d i ˈ ɡ r ɑː /, US: / ˈ m ɑːr d i ɡ r ɑː /; [1] [2] also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. [3] 1. Mobile Is The Birthplace Of Mardi Gras. First things first: The beloved tradition was actually born in Mobile, Alabama, though many associate it with New Orleans. Mobile first celebrated Mardi Gras in 1703, with the party really heating up in 1831. Mardi Gras is still a huge event in Mobile, with dozens of balls and parades every year. Whoever found the bean or trinket in their slice of cake would be crowned the king or queen of the balls leading up to the lavish finale on Mardi Gras. In the 1940s, babies became a staple in the cakes when bakery owner Donald Entringer began placing porcelain varieties in the cakes until plastic ones became more widely available. It's a sweet and delicious Mardi Gras tradition. If you’ve ever been to New Orleans or a Mardi Gras celebration, chances are you've seen (or tasted) a king cake—that colorful, sugary pastry
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