The Order of Myths

Writer/director Margaret Brown gives an excellent picture of the Mardi Gras traditions in Mobile, Alabama. Along the way she also gives a very good picture of black/white relations in the South even to this day.

Most people think of New Orleans when they hear Mardi Gras, but the fact is that Mobile's traditions date to before New Orleans was a city. Mardi Gras is still mostly a Southern tradition, even though it has spread to Texas, San Diego and St. Louis. It's rich history came over from Europe in the 18th Century to Mobile, New Orleans, and Biloxi, Mississippi, where I am familiar with it, having lived there for a few years.

Make no mistake, you can't just walk into the white organizations, even if you are white. You have to have familial connections back to the origins of the city. It is a closed society made up of a lot of former slave owners. Brown weaves the story of slaves into her story of the city and the Mardi Gras traditions.

It was an excellent peek into some of the traditions of the organizations, both black and white, and of the Mobile society.