Welcome to the Tweed Trends podcast. Hey, Evac, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evac, hey girl. And you are tuned in to Tweed Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Welcome back. Today is Fat Tuesday. Let's get started.
In case you're wondering, aren't sure, never heard of it, I can imagine if you haven't. But just in case, with today being Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, it refers to the events of the carnival celebration beginning on or after the Christian feast of Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrope Tuesday, Carnival Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Fat Tuesday. It just depends on where you are when you're celebrating. Now, if we think back a year from now, like a go, Mardi Gras was taking place, and barely anybody had ever heard of this thing that we now talk about every single day called the coronavirus.
But it has been said that it's because of various Mardi Gras celebrations that the coronavirus was spread the way that it was and how fast it got to everywhere. Because, undoubtedly, you had people that were there celebrating, that were asymptomatic, or you maybe even had sick people that didn't realize they were sick for that reason, because there's a lot of revelry and a lot of raunchiness at some of these various Mardi Gras celebrations. And so people may have thought, oh, I'm just drunk, I'm hung over, I'm this, I'm that. When really, in all reality, they were sick with the coronavirus.
But neither here nor there. The idea that last year at this time, people were living it up enjoying their annual Mardi Gras festivities, and then now here, a year after, things are looking a little bit different. However, there are people out there who celebrate Mardi Gras that they don't have given up in their DNA. And therefore, they have gone and reimagined what Mardi Gras looks like, what it is, how it's celebrated, just so that this year would not be a complete bust and it would be nothing anywhere.
So that's what we're gonna talk about today. The way that Mardi Gras has been reimagined for 2021, COVID times. Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras. Let's say you decided that you wanted to go around the country and celebrate Mardi Gras the way that different people do in different areas.
Well, there would be some people that would argue with you and be like, you know what, that's not even a thing, because there's only one place in the United States that celebrates Mardi Gras, and that's New Orleans. But that couldn't be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, Galis in Texas is noted for having the third biggest Mardi Gras in the United States. However, the people in Galis in are not like the other people around the country that celebrate it because they didn't have a plan B for this year.
So pretty much, Mardi Gras and Galis in is nonexistent this year. They dropped the ball, they weren't thinking, they didn't reach out to their counterparts in other places to be like, hey, what are you guys gonna do? Cause you know we can't just let this thing die, but they did. Hopefully next year, 2022, and as a matter of fact, on their various websites, that's what they're touting, they're like, hey, it might not happen this year, but let's look forward to 2022, cause we're gonna do it big.
So then moving on to the number two, that would be St. Louis, Missouri. Now I was taken aback by that one because I was like, wait, what St. Louis?
But yeah, they, well, and I don't even know if it's a claim that they are saying themselves or if it's actually been verified that St. Louis has the second biggest Mardi Gras outside of New Orleans. I don't know. Now they had a bunch of different activities, and one of their cool little things that they did is they got the kids involved and had shoebox flow parades, which the kids literally got shoeboxes and decorated them all nice and pretty, kinda like how you would see typical Mardi Gras parade floats.
I thought it was a great idea. Now when I did go check their websites for today, there was nothing, but leading up to today, of course, they had lots of different activities and things going on, and it's all virtual, so you can still go back and check all of these things out. But I was a little disappointed to see that, for Fat Tuesday, they had nothing, nothing. Like there wasn't even a link to take you to anything to say Happy Mardi Gras, no, it was nothing.
So I'm like, okay, number two, you guys just don't have that true Mardi Gras spirit. So now, in this next segment, we're gonna talk about the real deal, Holyfield. In a typical year, Galveston, Texas, and St. Louis, Missouri, you guys might've had it going on and on and on and on.
You just don't quite meet the mark in special situations, especially these COVID times, because you guys dropped the ball. Sorry, close, but no cigar. Now these next two places though, they have got the true Mardi Gras spirit. They were like, you know, we are not letting some little virus stop us from doing what we do.
Sure, we might have to reimagine it a little bit, but you know, one monkey, don't stop, no show. And so I'm gonna start with the place that is known as the birthplace of America's first Mardi Gras. And no, I'm not talking about New Orleans. I'm talking about Mobile, Alabama.
Yes, they are the official birthplace of Mardi Gras. You can look it up, it's documented. Don't fight it, don't argue about it. Just understand it and keep it moving.
Because all though Mobile, Alabama has the oldest Mardi Gras. We do know, realize, and recognize that New Orleans has the biggest one. They go all out. Now, I've been to both.
And honestly, did I have a family? I would prefer to go to the one in Alabama. But if I was single and ready to mingle, send me to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Because that's where all everything happens to go down.
You know, now is it all good stuff? Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. You know, but in Alabama, you're not gonna find people flashing people for beads and stuff like that. It's not as much drunkenness as what you find down in the French Quarter in Bourbon Street and stuff like that in New Orleans.
So, I mean night and day guys, night and day. So, I wouldn't even really compare the two. But I can say one thing that great minds think alike, because in both of these places, they have taken what they would have normally had in street parades and turned it upside down on its head. So now, rather than the people coming out to the street and watching the parade go by, the people are getting in their cars and driving around town.
And so, in Alabama, in Mobile, they have something called the Mobile Porch Parade, or actually the Mobile Porch Parade, where they have a map of the houses that are decorated for Mardi Gras. And when I say decorated normally, in a regular year, you'll see the Christmas trees dressed up for Mardi Gras, you'll see decorations on the houses, but they have gone above and beyond the call of duty in this particular situation, because what they've done is, they've gone to the float houses, meaning the places where they build these floats, they've gone to them and rented various items, and even gone as far as to hire artists that maybe are out of work, because normally this would have been a big season for them, in designing these various floats, and had these people come and decorate their yards. So this is no mirror, little miniature, anything. These decorations are amazing.
And New Orleans has the same thing going on. They've even called it Yardigra, where there's certain places. Now in Alabama, there are 400 plus homes that are registered to be a part of that map for the Porch Parade. In New Orleans, there are 3,000 homes that are a part of their immobile Porch Parade versus a mobile parade.
It's immobile. I am loving it, and the cool thing is, you can check it out. Yeah, you don't have to be there because it's all virtual. You can go online and check these things out.
And so now you get to have a little bit of taste of what Yardigra is like in 2021, because when I tell you this, this isn't gonna go away. Yardigra is gonna stay. It's a thing now, kinda like the greeting cards in the yards. This is gonna be a thing.
So when regular Mardi Gras gets back up and running, that's gonna be amazing, I'm so sure. But the Yardigra is here to stay. If you are interested in seeing some of these amazing houses and porches that have been decorated, and also seeing some of the other ways that people celebrated Mardi Gras this year, do me a favor. You can go over to Twitter and look for the hashtag Mardi Gras, safe at home.
That's M-A-R-D-I-G-R-A-S-S-A-F-E-A-T-H-O-M-E that will take you to the items that St. Louis had to offer this year. And then you can also go to the mobile Porch Parade. That's hashtag M-O-B-I-L-E-P-O-R-C-H-P-A-R-A-D-E.
And you can see some awesome sites there as well. And then last but not least, if you go to the website crewofhouseflots.org. And if you know anything about crews, it's K-R-E-W-E-O-F-H-O-U-S-E-F-L-O-A-T-S.org. There, you can find a map and you can go by neighborhood or area to see what places, mainly in Louisiana, but they do have other places around the country that people have decorated their porches.
So check it out. Check me out. I'm on Twitter at HeyEvet. That's at H-E-E-V-E-T-E.
Or just look for the hashtag tweet trends. You can also find me on Instagram, on YouTube and on Facebook at HeyEvet1. All right. Hope you're having a great that Tuesday.
Enjoy it. Kick your heels up. Have fun checking out the various sites online. And then reel it in when you go into this Lenten season.
All right guys. I'll see you later on this week on Thursday.