Flashing body parts for beads is a common sight during certain Mardi Gras parades or a walk down Bourbon Street, but it isn’t anything new.
Sociology professor Wesley Shrum says flashing for beads is something more than just drunken behavior, it is a method of celebration he calls “ritual disrobement,” or the negotiated exchange of nudity for beads during Mardi Gras celebrations.
Shrum says this tradition began in the mid 1970s with nudists in New Orleans who wanted to share their method of celebration with others. The nudists exposed themselves on balconies during parades to catch and throw beads.
It caught on, and by 1980, ritual disrobement developed into the form practiced by men and women today.
“This is interestingly not drunken behavior … the ritual is more structured than that,” Shrum said. “There are certain kinds of things that are okay to do and there are certain kinds of possibilities and you get to innovate within those possibilities.”
While ritual disrobement is still common in New Orleans today, some Cajun Country traditions are only somewhat practiced.
English professor Carolyn Ware says Mardi Gras runs, or Courir de Mardi Gras, are among the most unique and oldest Mardi Gras traditions. Mardi Gras runs are part of a Cajun tradition that includes a group of “runners,” or masked men and women, who dress in elaborate, brightly colored costumes. The costume is topped with a distinctive capuchon, or tall, pointy hat.
The runners stop at houses in the community and give a performance, such as a traditional French song, a dance or pranks. They end the performance by asking for something to include in a community gumbo.
Ware says it has its roots in Europe, when Acadians from France and Canada probably brought it to Louisiana. The Acadians likely used it as a fun way to share food with the community during times of scarcity.
The Mardi Gras runs are a rare occurrence these days, but one rooted in hundreds of years of Cajun tradition in southwest Louisiana.
“It’s a way of building a sense of community,” Ware said. “I think they do it today because it’s an important part of their identity as a Cajun or Creole.”
Though some of the traditions have dwindled over time, some have just taken a different shape. Anthropology professor Helen Regis says that she loves Mardi Gras because people revive old traditions to make something new.
Baby Doll marching groups represent one of the many old Mardi Gras traditions that have been reinvented today. These marching groups are a classic feature in a growing list of alternative New Orleans parades.
Baby Dolls are groups of women who mask, or parade in costume, in handmade babydoll-style dresses covered in ruffles and lace. They often hold items like feathered umbrellas or baby bottles to add to the costume.
The Baby Dolls dance and march through New Orleans neighborhoods such as the Tremé alongside other groups. They often cross paths with other alternative parades such as the Mardi Gras Indians and the skeletons. “The Baby Dolls symbolize life,” Regis said.
This marching group has had a place in Mardi Gras culture for at least one hundred years. Many families pass the tradition down through generations, but now a leader of a group can ask you to join. Even Regis was asked to be a Baby Doll in 2004 and 2005 by a group leader.
“Now anyone can go, it doesn’t take a special virtue or you don’t have to know the right people to be a part of it,” she said.
While popularity decreased after the 1960s, what Regis calls a “Baby Doll Revival” took place in the years after Hurricane Katrina. The popularity of the groups grew, and now several Baby Doll groups dance through the streets during Mardi Gras once again.
“I love Mardi Gras because I love to see how people take the tradition and then they reinvent it for this time and place,” Regis said. “So it becomes something new while at the same time it’s connected to the past.”

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Zoe Geauthreaux

LSU professor Wesley M. Shrum Jr. sits in his office on Monday, Feb. 1, 2015, in Stubbs Hall.