Mardi Gras is celebrated in Mobile, New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities.This festive event was started in Mobile and according to some accounts, dates back to 1703. The celebration was originally called Boef Gras (Fat Beef).
The well-known Mardi Gras in Mobile was begun by Michael Krafft. On New Years's Eve, 1830, Krafft and his friends were reluctant to end a dinner party at the customary time. They raided a nearby hardware store, took up rakes, hoes and cowbells and proceeded to wake the town. They soon formed the Cowbellion de Rakin Society, the first of Mobile's many modern mystic organizations. The Cowbellions presented their first parade, complete with floats and theme, in 1840.
The Civil War brought revelry in Mobile to an abrupt halt. Joseph Stillwell Cain, on Fat Tuesday of 1866, donned full Chickasaw Indian regalia, dubbed himself Chief Slacabamorinico. Cain and six friends set out to raise the morale of citizens in the defeated city. Dubbing themselves the "Tea Drinkers", and fired up by drink much stronger than tea, they took to the streets in a decorated coal wagon pulled by a mule. Cain was a founder in the Order of Myths, the organization which today holds the final Carnival Season parade Mardi Gras night. He also helped organize many more parading societies. Cain's role in reviving Mardi Gras is observed each year on the Sunday before Mardi Gras Day, "Joe Cain Day." On "Joe Cain Day" thousands of Mobilians in costume and on individually designedfloats parade through the streets of downtown Mobile.
THERE IS AN INTERESTING CONNECTION BETWEEN MOBILE MARDI GRAS & PHILADELPHIA ,PA
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1831 -----Michael Krafft, a gentleman from Philadelphia, and the group of men who staged the New Year's event a year ago, formally organize, and, in honor of their first parade, they called themselves the "Cowbellion de Rakin Society". " For their first 10 years, they paraded on New Year’s Eve in mask on foot with only a few floats.
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