Mardi Gras is here; Krewes preparing for the season

Mardi Gras season officially kicked off Friday, but preparation for Fat Tuesday festivities is a many months long endeavor krewes go through.
Carnival celebration began Friday, with the feast of Epiphany or Twelfth Night of Christ-mas, and continues through Fat Tuesday, according to mardigrasneworleans.com. Ash Wednesday is always 46 days before Easter, and Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday.
Mardi Gras falls on Feb. 28 this year.
The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced to medieval Europe, passing through Rome and Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries to the French House of the Bourbons, according to the website.
Local krewes have their own rich history.
Krewe of Hephaestus in Morgan City is the area’s oldest krewe in its 57th year. Hephaestus members will parade at 2 p.m. Fat Tuesday in Morgan City.
The Morgan City women’s Krewe of Gala-tea was started 48 years ago and is the only all-female krewe in the Tri-City area, member Helen Solar said. The Galatea parade will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 26.
Galatea tries to get as many high school marching bands to perform at the parade as possible, but getting bands is not as easy as it used to be, Solar said.
“That’s what really makes our parade. We used to have a minimum of 10 bands in our parade, and we’re 16 floats,” she said.
Galatea members make their own floats that are used only by their krewe and they update their floats over the years, Solar said. The Krewe of Galatea is a mystic krewe and doesn’t reveal its royalty until the night of its ball.
The children’s Krewe of Nike is in its 46th year and rides behind the Krewe of Galatea in its parade, Board President Amy Kirkpatrick said. Nike’s royalty ride in convertibles and the rest of the krewe rides on three floats, she said.
“As soon as one year ends, we start on the next year,” Kirkpatrick said of the krewe’s preparations.
Rodney Grogan, founder of the Krewe of Amani in Patterson, started the krewe 19 years ago, but this year has let younger members take over organizing the Mardi Gras festivities, he said. Amani will hold its Lundi Gras parade at 2 p.m. Feb. 27.
Amani is continuing its same traditions, though, that it has done over the years and will present its royalty, including children’s and senior citizen’s royalty, the night of the ball, Grogan said.
The Krewe of Dionysus rotates each year between Bayou Vista and Berwick to hold its parade, Krewe President Cindy Marino said. This year’s parade will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 25 in Bayou Vista. Dionysus rents its floats from Mardi Gras Floats Inc.
Dionysus began in 1980 as the Berwick Bayou Vista Mardi Gras Association. The krewe now has 100 members, mostly from Berwick and Bayou Vista, but includes people from other areas, too.
Dionysus’ first Mardi Gras ball was held in an airplane hangar at the Wedell Williams Airport in Patterson.
The Krewe of Hannibal in Morgan City participates in the Dionysus parade as well. Krewe member Greta Lewis said the krewe has been around for 37 years and make their own floats. Hannibal also rides in the Siracusa and Amani parades.
Hannibal has its own Mardi Gras bus in addition to other floats it uses in the three parades around the area, Lewis said.
Siracusa-Greenwood Parade organizer Leroy Trim said their parade will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 28 in Siracusa Subdivision near Morgan City. The parade doesn’t have its own krewe, but the krewes of Amani and Hannibal participate in the parade.
The Krewe of Adonis, celebrating 42 years, will hold the area’s only nighttime parade at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 in Morgan City.