Yes, Virginia, Mardi Gras Really Does Matter!

When locals worked to revive Mardi Gras after the disruptions of World War II, Robert Tallent, author of a 1947 history of Carnival, wrote, "If there is any world left in which human beings still laugh and still, even on rare occasions, have fun, there will be a Mardi Gras . . . It will live through whatever catastrophes occur . . . Men cease to laugh only when they are very ill or when they have become beasts . . . That is why Mardi Gras is not a trivial matter but a very important one." As we begin this Carnival season, it is useful to pause and consider the deeper meanings of this event, so central to the multi-ethnic history of New Orleans. From Zulu to Rex, from Mardi Gras Indians to the Storyville Stompers, nothing expresses the complex heritage and history of New Orleans like Carnival. Randy J. Sparks-Tulane