When February rolls around, most people think about Valentine’s Day, chocolate (which I think about all the time), and hearts. But, if you lived for any length of time along the Gulf Coast, your thoughts might wander to Mardi Gras. Anyone who hasn’t lived along the Gulf – notably from Pensacola, Florida to Lafayette, Louisiana – may not understand what this event is all about. Like the stock market, Mardi Gras can be emotionally and mentally draining, and it also can be financially daunting or rewarding. Now it appeals to a wide market. It is part of a culture that can be fun or horrendous to visit (depending upon your experience), but it can change your life if you live with it for any length of time.

A simple explanation for this event is that Mardi Gras is a French term for Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. This event isn’t confined to the Gulf Coast, but few places celebrate it like they do on the Coast. Many areas treat the event as a one-day festival, and other cultures practice celebrations from Epiphany (early January) to Ash Wednesday. In Mobile, Alabama Mardi Gras begins in November with mystic society balls that occur from Thanksgiving through New Year, followed by parades during January and February.

A little history of the event might help to explain this culture along the Coast. Two French brothers, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, brought Mardi Gras to North America in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiane, which has since been divided into the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Although the brothers celebrated the event as a slice of life for a short time as they explored, Mardi Gras made its first big dent in the Coast’s culture in 1702. That’s when Beinville settled Mobile, Alabama, and made it the capital of Louisiane. French settlers in Mobile began the Mardi Gras celebration tradition full swing in 1703.

While most folks believe that Mardi Gras began in New Orleans, a simple historic note makes that thought moot: New Orleans was founded 15 years after Mobile. When New Orleans was dubbed the capital of Louisiana in 1723, Mardi Gras followed. This celebration has French roots and even deeper roots in Catholicism, but that history has been dulled by the participation of numerous people who lay no claim to being either French or Catholic. Since the New Orleans version of Mardi Gras is far different than that of most other celebrations along the Coast, I’m focusing eastward on Mobile instead.

The Mardi Gras tradition all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast is family oriented, believe it or not. Traditionally, in Mobile, families with money were the leaders of truly secretive mystic societies. The mystic societies led the balls and parades, decided on themes, and regulated all Mardi Gras proceedings. But, these societies really didn’t get off the ground until after the American Civil War.

Although I once attended a bal masques (masquerade ball – and I ended up with food poisoning from some deviled eggs), the general order of this event is that the balls were intended for the mystic societies and their guests, and the parades were designed for the upper crust to throw trinkets and candies to the lower classes. But, that all changed during my lifetime. In 2001, the Order of Outowners mystic society was founded with the mission of being a more modern and inclusive society. They offer ball tickets for sale to the general public. The Conde Explorers were founded as a parading mystic society in 2004, with the express mission of being open to all races and both genders.

You may get the drift that this culture is complex because of this event – after all, it consumes the greater part of the year in planning, and almost a quarter of a year in execution. This is why, when hurricanes strike, the willingness to stay put can be overwhelming. Mardi Gras consists of families, and those families are tied to other families through participation. If you are an outlier to the event, this ritual means nothing to you other than the parades and the ability to walk away with trinkets. But, annual parades do represent ritual, and tradition often shapes an individual. Cora, my daughter, went through withdrawals every February for three years after we left the Coast, because her inner clock was set for annual parades.

The fact that it took three hundred years to break down the social and racial barriers to this event is astounding. But, I lived along the Coast before this happened, and I’m a living witness to the class divisions. I don’t believe anyone can fully state whether those divisions were dissolved by economics or by societal pressure…but I believe it was a mix of the two theories as well as the introduction of the Internet.

If you think about it, many things changed over the past two decades, and that’s when the Internet became available to the general public. Even if people don’t own computers, they can use them at libraries. And, even if you don’t use social media, you have been touched by its results. Social media uprisings just within these past few months have affected a certain bank’s efforts to collect more fees and a certain government’s efforts at building a pipeline. Those actions do affect most of the country.

I think you might know where I’m headed with these thoughts. The stock market was created in 1792, well after Mardi Gras; but, the stock market also was a class-oriented affair. If you were rich, you had the money to become involved in investments. Although many people from the middle class were able to purchase homes during the 20th century, those individuals often didn’t trust banks or the stock market after the Great Depression. It wasn’t until the 1960s when attitudes about saving and investments seemed real to the middle class. Now, with the Internet (since 1989), the stock market has become public in the most literal sense. People are free to invest in the markets without the mystifying and often expensive route of using brokers.

BUYandHOLD was created about the same time as the open societies for Mardi Gras in Mobile. Imagine that! Although the current economy may seem too risky for many “ordinary” folks to invest right now, it never hurts to take a look at how this BUYandHOLD investment tool operates. Start at the Guided Tour, and go from there. The site is easy to use, and you can find tons of information about investments on the site. Plus, you can see how my writing has evolved over the past ten years through the ongoing Mom Chronicles – it’s been an honor to work with these fine folks in such a revolutionary piece of investment pie – which is nothing like King Cake. When it comes to similarities, I am capable of drawing a line.

Laissez les bons temps rouler (Let the good times roll),
Linda Goin