One of the biggest celebrations in Louisiana is none other than Mardi Gras. I have lived in Louisiana my life, but somehow there was a surprising number of things that I didn’t really know about the holiday. Since the celebration is coming up soon, I thought it would be a good idea to share my newfound knowledge with all of you.
King Cakes are surprisingly easy to make.
In case you aren’t familiar, king cakes are a tradition around Mardi Gras. In every King Cake, there is a small plastic or porcelain baby placed randomly within the cake. If you find the baby, then you should have good luck for the rest of the year, and you are nominated to bring the next king cake to next year’s party.
As a kid, I always thought king cakes were specially made in order to have the baby placed inside of it without it melting or breaking. This led me to believe that king cakes were made with specialized tools and took a very long time to cook correctly. However, this is not the case. Turns out, king cakes are made using simple ingredients (mostly sugar, flour, and butter), and only take about an hour or so to complete. The more you know!
You could potentially catch the prize coconut.
In addition to beads, krewes often will give out trinkets such as cups, stuffed animals, and a variety of other cool prizes. Perhaps the most interesting of these trinkets is the prize Zulu Coconut. This strange prize trinket has helped the Zulu Krewe become one of the most iconic and anticipated krewes in Mardi Gras. The simple, brief history of the coconut is that one year the krewe couldn’t afford to purchase beads, so they instead bought a bag of coconuts to give out instead (Sometimes you have to work with what you have.) The Zulu krewe doesn’t throw the coconuts anymore to avoid injuring people in the crowds, but that has changed the high honor that it is to receive one from a parade.
Yell “Throw me something, mister!” to score more beads.
Apparently, there is a better way to get krewe members to throw you more beads or trinkets than just screaming and waving your hands around like a manic. (Although that does work, too.) Try yelling the phrase “Throw me something, mister!” and prepare yourself to get showered with tons of green, purple, and gold beads. I’m not really sure why this works or the history behind it. However, it is still a fun thing to look forward to during the Mardi Gras season!
There you have it. Honestly, it’s amazing how much I didn’t know that I didn’t know. It just goes to show that you can always learn something new. I hope you all have a great Mardi Gras season!
Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!