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Lake Wales Mardi Gras
Band Line Up 2012
11:00 – 12:00
Jon & Debbie Corneal
12:00 – 1:00
Mustang Sally & the Hamjo’s
1:00 – 2:00
Sticky Steve & the Pollinators
2:00 – 3:00 The
Jug Band
5:00 – 6:30 Shak
Nasti
7:00 – 9:00
Thomas Wynn and the Believers
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Saturday, February 18, 2012
3:00 PM Start Time
The Mardi Gras Experience
Pageantry! Parades! Exotic Floats!
Outrageous Costumes! Masked Crowds! Carnival Royalty! High-stepping!
Strutters moving to the rhythms of Dixieland Jazz! Uninhibited
Merry-making! MARDI GRAS!
Mardi Gras celebrations go back several
hundred years. The term “Mardi Gras” means “Fat Tuesday” and refers to
the day before Ash Wednesday – the first of the forty days of lent
preceding Easter. Christians on the time customarily gave up meat and
other indulgences during lent, thus “carneval” or “farewell to meat” -
- became “Carnival”, a festive period when over-indulgence was in
order.
The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are
purple, gold, and green. However, Krewes (secret groups that make up
the cast of characters in Mardi Gras) selected their own colors to
brandish during Carnival. Kings and Queens and courts of these krewes
are selected with utmost secrecy. Beads, doubloons, and other trinkets
are tossed to spectators along the Mardi Gras route as “throws” – the
traditional souvenirs of every Mardi Gras.
Because Mardi Gras is celebrated in
various cultures around the world costumes and music vary according to
location. Lake Wales has incorporated traditions from many of them
including feathered costumes from Rio, Dixieland Jazz, Blues and
Zydeco music, Cajun food and mask from New Orleans. Another tradition
adapted from New Orleans is the Krewe of Rex as the lead Krewe in the
parade escorting the Queen of Carnival and Prince of Wailes (our
version of rex, King of Carnival). The Prince of Wailes is selected
from the members of the Krewe of Rex. The Queen of the Carnival is
selected by the hiding of the “Golden Bead” in the ceremonial “King
Cake” which will be served to all the ladies present – she who finds
the golden bead will take her place beside the King of Carnival.
The essence of Mardi Gras is in
participation and be best explained in the words of Robert Tallant:
“Mardi Gras is s spirit….an immortal
one….as immortal as man’s ability to make believe, to escape the
dreariness of everyday life that is most of men’s portion, to have
fun, laugh, and to play…Mardi Gras is very old, but it is also very
young. It belongs to the past, yet also to the present and the future.
It will exist in other forms, in other times, in other places. It
would be wonderful if the clown in the grinning mask should appear on
all the Main Streets of the world, if . . . there could be a season,
or at least a day, devoted to laughter.”
Hotel Accommodations available:
Chalet Suzanne
3800Chalet Suzanne Lane
Lake Wales, FL 33859
863-676-6011
www.chaletsuzanne.com
Contact Us
If you would like
more information,
or would like to
register for the parade,
please call
863-638-2686
or send us an
email at
info@lwmardigras.com
If you would
like to send us an application by mail:
Lake Wales Mardi
Gras
P.O. Box 3631
Lake Wales, FL 33859-3631
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