I came home to visit my parents (they live about 2.5 hours from me) on Friday afternoon. It was an exciting weekend because several events were going on: my 10-year class reunion, the Homecoming game/parade, and Halloween. Now, Halloween in my parents' hometown is the old fashioned kind where people still go door to door along Main Street. My paternal grandmother lives on Main Street, so it has been our tradition to go to her house every Halloween and help hand out candy. So when I was at my parents' house on Friday evening, and my dad brought out a box of old pictures and letters, I thought, "How could this weekend get any better?" Then I was even more excited when I found the Halloween picture of him and his brothers from 1964, and what I thought was a Halloween picture of his dad, my paternal grandfather, Benford Maurice Trahan.
On the back of it, however, I noticed it had a date stamp of Feb 1941. I thought that was unusual, but I thought that maybe it had taken a few months to get it developed. Then last night, my grandmother said that she thought it was a Mardi Gras picture instead. Well, that made total sense, in light of the fact of the date on the back and that my grandfather grew up in the heart of Cajun Country, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Also, if you look at his right hand, he is holding a Mardi Gras mask. My grandmother said that my great-grandparents used to travel to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and there was a large children's parade in Lafayette, so he was probably dressed up for one of these two reasons.
So, I think I will be reposting this pic in February! Stay tuned!
On the back of it, however, I noticed it had a date stamp of Feb 1941. I thought that was unusual, but I thought that maybe it had taken a few months to get it developed. Then last night, my grandmother said that she thought it was a Mardi Gras picture instead. Well, that made total sense, in light of the fact of the date on the back and that my grandfather grew up in the heart of Cajun Country, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Also, if you look at his right hand, he is holding a Mardi Gras mask. My grandmother said that my great-grandparents used to travel to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and there was a large children's parade in Lafayette, so he was probably dressed up for one of these two reasons.
Hey that's really cool about it being a Mardi Gras costume. Some cajun in my dorm from some super Cajun town (maybe Mamou?) said that most people dress up there for Mardi Gras, especially the adults. He said that people load up in the back of trucks (drunk of course) and drive to different people's houses and get free food all day. And people have to let you in and give you food. It's sort of like Halloween in that way but it goes on all day. I guess it sounded more like a route than a parade, but anyway it is something that can only happen in really small towns where everyone knows EVERYONE. I don't think that's necessarily what Grandpa was dressed up for, but the idea of putting on a costume for Mardi Gras seems to be a very old tradition. Also, my friend explained it to me that the costumes aren't like Halloween costumes. There aren't Ninja Turtles, Spiderman, nurse, etc. It's mostly looks like clowns and hobos with mardi gras masks. He said you just wear whatever kind of weird old tore up clothes you have that don't make any sense. Anyway, just thought I'd share. The whole thing sounded fascinating to me.
ReplyDelete