Grown people acting like fools for a few days might very well be good for the soul. I’m not sure how large groups, primarily men, agreeing to behave silly is therapeutic, but it is. I’ll leave it to some psychologist try to explain it. As a participant, though, I assure you, it’s good stuff. Over the top costumes, over the top floats, parading, parties, dancing. It’s not behavior most participate in unless it’s limited to a certain calendar window and amongst friends and neighbors.
My wife’s cousin visited over the holidays. She toured one of Mobile’s museums and saw the extraordinary displays of costumes and the photos of floats and our city’s royalty and their flamboyant, extravagant attire. It was all over the top, as it is intended to be. I told her that some people simply don’t get it, and she summed it up perfectly. “To enjoy it, you have to be in on the joke,” and that’s it. I’ve not heard it said better.
You’ve seen skits on TV or pranks where one person is playing the fool but won’t let on that he’s doing it? His face and behavior are serious and intentional, but all the while, his behavior is, well, foolish. The people around him play along and everyone enjoys the spoof. Well, what if a group of people are in on the joke, behaving ridiculously for a narrow window of time but not letting anyone know that they know it’s a spoof? In Mobile, Alabama, these groups are largely called societies or orders. In New Orleans they’re called krewes. They’re all in on the joke.
And what is the joke? The joke is that this doesn’t matter, but we act like it does, that our supposed kings and queens are kings and queens of nothing. Kings and queens of a type of Kabuki theater played out in front of the masses in elaborate, flamboyant costumes for their own entertainment and the enjoyment of their societies, orders, krewes, their invited guests, their mothers and fathers, and, perhaps, their whole cities. There is no reason to do this. There are stories that tie these celebrations to preparations for lent, to Easter, even explaining the behavior away to the days before food could be refrigerated, but underneath it all, there is no good reason to do this, and that’s why we do it. That’s part of the fun. We agree that for a while we look at each other out the side of our eye for a few days, and we’ll not hold each other accountable for the silly things we say, or do, or wear. All is understood, Ok’d and soon forgotten.
I have a ridiculous top hat that I’ll wear in the coming days with my Mardi Gras costume. People will tell me I look like a fool. They’re not in on the joke. They don’t get it. Of course I do, and my reply to them will be this, and it’s something they won’t understand. I’ll simply say, “Happy Mardi Gras.”
I’m Cam Marston, and I’m just trying to Keep It Real.
