Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, February 21, 2001

Mardi Gras Memories

"Throw me something, mister!"

by Kelly Bates

If you are standing on the street begging for beads, chances are you are at a Mardi Gras parade.

"I've got the baby!"

Of the many traditions associated with Mardi Gras, the plastic toy baby-bearing king cake is just one part of the celebrated annual pre-Lenten revelry.

As a child in Little Farms, La., my family would attend one or two parades in downtown New Orleans but the Mardi Gras fun started weeks before the parades began.  During the carnival season, which begins on the Epiphany, we had king cake parties -- as many as we could squeeze in before Fat Tuesday. 

One friend would have to start by having the first party.  That child's mom would buy a king cake from any one of a dozen nearby bakeries and set a date for the party.

We would gather at their house after school wearing beads from previous years' parades and wait for the cake to be served.  Each guest would get a large slice of cake along with a cold cup of Kool-Aid.  What a treat.  Whoever found the baby in his or her slice of cake would hold it high and chant: "I've got the baby."  That child then would host the next party.

After the parties, we would retreat to the backyard and play Mardi Gras parade.  It helped if you had a large box lying around to decorate and use as a float.  Some of us would play the "krewe" and some of us would be the "crowd".  The krewe would shower the crowd with breads, doubloons and other trinkets collected from previous parades.  Of course, unlike the real Mardi Gras parades, you had to return these borrowed "throws" after the game was over.

As young children we saw these weekly parties as a way for us to stretch out Mardi Gras holidays.

Now many party shops nationwide carry Mardi Gras party supplies and little plastic babies suitable for baking into your own cakes.

Mail order food houses sell the cakes via phone, catalogs and Web sites, many with gourmet touches such as praline, cream cheese, apple, lemon and blueberry fillings.

For many people the king cake tradition and Mardi Gras has evolved into an excuse to throw a big party, but other still honor the holiday's religious roots.

Epiphany (12 days after Christmas) is called Twelfth Day or Little Christmas and honors the arrival of three wise men or three kings to Bethlehem.

The vigil or eve of Epiphany is called Twelfth Night and is a time for exchanging gifts and feasting in honor of the three kings' gifts to the Christ child.  The popular king cake takes its name from the three kings.

Original king cakes were simple rings of dough with little or no decoration, but the pastry has developed into flavored varieties such as cinnamon brioche.

The tiny plastic baby once baked into the cakes, but because of safety concerns, most bakers now provide the baby "on the side" to be inserted and hidden by the host from the bottom of the cake before serving.

Tinted icings and sugars reflect Mardi Gras colors - bright greens, purples and golds are used.  Purple symbolizes justice: green for faith and gold for power- all the legendary hues of the crowns of the three kings.

Mardi Gras, originated as a period of merriment and celebration to allow Christians a chance to "fatten up" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.  The New Orleans celebration dates to 1837 when the city's first street parade honored the occasion.