Masking for Mardi Gras

When I was a child, planning and making my masks and costumes was almost a year long endeavor. Now, as it was then, some people are still child- like at heart, at any age, when it comes to Mardi Gras. The costume design process can be more than one year in the making, and may involve one's entire family, and some of their friends.

Sometimes, costumes will be quite elaborate, requiring countless hours of sewing, beading, and assembly, to produce one costume to be worn one single day - Mardi Gras. Some of the most elaborate are the costumes of the Mardi Gras Indians. They get to use theirs twice - on Mardi Gras Day, and on St. Joseph's Day.

For others, that kind of time is not available, so costumes are made quickly, with little time to spare, from any materials found at hand. As you can see, even a roll of aluminum foil will suffice. Face painting and body painting have been around, in some fashion, for as long as I can remember. It qualifies as a mask and/or costume. Just be sure that you don't rely entirely on the paint for minimal clothing requirements, or the New Orleans Police will show you, in most emphatic terms, where you went wrong.

Requiring as much thought, creativity and work as the elaborate costumes of beads and feathers, are some of the more unique, if not outrageous. People have costumed as political figures, or made costumes that poked fun at political issues. Some have dressed as garbage cans, and others become a graphical play on words. One of my all time favorites was the family of roaches.

Lagniappe

Mardi Gras Indians
Charles Patton