When does Carnival begin? In Mobile, the answer most locals give is Jan. 6 — Twelfth Night, or Epiphany, the feast marking the visit of the Magi.
Tradition holds that celebrating Carnival or eating king cake before Epiphany invites bad luck: it will rain on Mardi Gras. The date closes out Christmastide and opens the pre-Lenten season, the run-up to the final blowout before Ash Wednesday.
But there is no single governing body that sets an “official” start. Carnival has evolved from many traditions, and communities celebrate on their own terms — whether that is Epiphany, the first parade, or Jeudi Gras and Vendredi Gras. The point, as Mobile revelers like to say, is to have a good time.
That flexibility is worth remembering because claims about when Carnival “really” starts can carry an agenda. Recently a regional outlet suggested Mardi Gras begins before Thanksgiving, tying the season to the debutante balls that date to the 1950s. But Mobile’s Carnival long predates that graft. The city’s first mystic societies paraded on New Year’s Eve — the Cowbellions de Rakins, formed in 1830 or 1831 — decades before New Orleans’ Comus rolled in 1857.
Mobile did not “invent” Mardi Gras. Carnival stretches back to medieval Europe and spread worldwide. What Mobile can claim is a distinct, homegrown tradition rooted in the liturgical calendar and the New Year’s Eve parades of its earliest societies.
So as the king cakes return to the shelves, Mobile can celebrate knowing the story behind the season — and decide for itself when the party starts.
Happy Mardi Gras 2015!