Mistick Krewe of Comus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Mistick Krewe of Comus

Mistick Krewe of Comus 1898 Invitation
Abbreviation	MKC
Named after	Comus
Formation	January 4, 1857; 168 years ago (1857-01-04)
Founded at	New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Type	Carnival Krewe
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.

The Mistick Krewe of Comus (MKC), started in 1856, is the oldest New Orleans, Louisiana Carnival group, called a Krewe. It was the longest to have parades almost every year from 1856 to 1991. Even today, the Krewe still holds a special ball for its members and guests. At first, the public knew them as The Pickwick Club.

Before Comus was formed, Carnival parties in New Orleans were mostly for the Catholic Creole community. Parades were not regular and often very casual. In 1833, Bernard de Marigny changed this with the first officially organized New Orleans Carnival parade and tableau ball.

It was Comus, in 1856, that truly made New Orleans Carnival what it is today. Six men from the Uptown area of New Orleans started the group. They helped make the celebrations more formal and regular. Later, in 1991, Comus stopped parading. This happened because the city passed a rule saying parade groups could not discriminate against anyone based on their race, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation. Comus, along with other old Krewes like Momus and Proteus, chose to stop parading instead of changing their membership rules.

How Comus Started

An early invitation for members of the Mystick Krewe of Comus

Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville

Building on the work of Bernard de Marigny, who organized the first official Mardi Gras parade in 1833, a new group formed. In December 1856, six men in New Orleans decided to create a secret society. Their goal was to celebrate Mardi Gras in a more organized way.

These men invited about 30 to 40 of their business friends to a meeting on January 4, 1857. They met above a restaurant in New Orleans' Vieux Carré. They named their group "Comus" after a character from John Milton's play Comus. They also got ideas for their parades from a group in Mobile, Alabama, called the Cowbellion de Rakin Society.

Some of the founding members included Samuel Manning Todd, a merchant, and Dr. John H. Pope, who is said to have named the group.

The new Comus group even got costumes, floats, and torches from the 1856 Cowbellion parade. Some historians believe that another Mobile group, Striker's Independent Society, also helped them.

One historian described the creation of Comus like this:

It was Comus who, in 1857, brought new life to the old Carnival. Comus introduced torch-lit parades and themed floats to Mardi Gras. And Comus still ends the most loved celebrations of New Orleans with great style.

Comus's first night parade was a huge hit! It had torches, marching bands, and floats. It was so popular that for their second parade, thousands of visitors came to New Orleans just for the Carnival celebration.

A grand scene from the Mistick Krewe's ball in 1873, shown in Harpers

Like other old Krewes, Comus had some connections to groups that supported unfair ideas about race in the past. For example, some parade themes, like "The Missing Links to Darwin's Origin of Species" in 1873, showed outdated and harmful views. These themes reflected the social attitudes of that time, which are not accepted today.

The Comus Parade

The Mistick Krewe held a parade every year on the evening of Shrove Tuesday from 1857 to 1991. They only stopped during wars or other major events. For a few years, from 1885 to 1890, the Krewe of Proteus took over the final parade spot on Shrove Tuesday. But in 1890, Comus started parading again as the last parade of Mardi Gras.

Parade Themes

Gallery

Costumes and Floats

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  Female Eye 1869

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  Alligator 1873

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  Ass Costume Parade 1873

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  Bananas 1873

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  Bat 1873

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  Beetle 1873

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  Bloodhound 1873

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  Coral Polyp 1873

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  Fly 1873

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  Grasshopper 1873

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  Lion 1873

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  Scorpion 1873

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  Spider 1873

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  Amphitrite 1886

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  Offerings in Ancient Egypt 1886

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  Mercury 1886

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  Royalty in a Future Generation 1886

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  Corn Costume 1893

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  1894

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  1894

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  1897 Bulletin

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  Othello 1898

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  Macbeth 1989

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  Romeo and Juliet 1898

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  Bulletin Stories of the Golden Age 1900

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  Charlemagne 1909

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  COMUS 1910

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  1910

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  Al Borak 1910

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  Cadijah 1910

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  Cockerel 1910

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  King of Abyssinia 1910

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  The Cock 1910

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  The Koran 1910

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  The Mystic Shrine 1910

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  The Reward of the Faithful 1910

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  What Are The Wild Waves Saying 1911

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  Frog 1912

Invitations

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  1860

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  1861

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  1862

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  1866 Admittance Card

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  1867 Envelope

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  1867 Admittance card

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  1868 Admittance Card

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  1871

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  1877

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  1878

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  1880

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  1880 Admittance card

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  1881

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  1891

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  1893

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  1898

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  1899

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  1890

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  1899

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  1907

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  1907 Admittance card

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  1910

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  1914

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  1916 Admittance card

Parade

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  1858

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  Route 1859

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  1867

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  1873

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  COMUS 1934

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  1950's Parade

Programs

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  1857

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  1859 The Daily True Delta

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  1867

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  1925

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  1925

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  1927

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  Diamond Jubilee 1931

Tableau

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  1873

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  1875

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  1900

Why Parades Were Sometimes Stopped

From the first Comus parade until a police strike in 1979, nothing stopped New Orleans' big Mardi Gras parties except wars. On March 1, 1862, Comus announced that Carnival celebrations would stop because of the war. The New Orleans Daily Picayune newspaper printed this message:

To Ye Mistick Krewe –

GREETINGS!

WHEREAS, War has cast its gloom over our happy homes and care usurped the place where joy is wont to
hold its sway. Now, therefore, do I deeply sympathizing with the general anxiety, deem it proper to
withhold your Annual Festival in this goodly Crescent City and by this proclamation do command no assemblage
of the

-MISTICK KREWE-

Given under my hand this, the 1st day of March A.D. 1862.
                                                                                              Comus

Comus made similar announcements in 1917 (for World War I), 1942 (for World War II), and 1951 (for the Korean War). Each time, the leader of Comus convinced the leaders of other Krewes to stop their parties during these international conflicts.

From 1885 to 1889, the Mistick Krewe chose not to parade. During this time, the Krewe of Proteus moved its parade to Carnival night. When Comus started parading again in 1890, Proteus did not want to move their parade. That year, the two parades almost crashed into each other on Canal Street. A Comus masker helped avoid the crash, and Comus finished its parade.

Why Comus Stopped Parading

In 1991, the New Orleans City Council passed a new rule. This rule said that social groups, including Mardi Gras Krewes, had to publicly state that they did not discriminate. This meant they could not refuse members based on their race, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation. This rule was needed to get parade permits and other public licenses.

The Comus organization, along with Momus and Proteus, decided to stop parading. They chose not to parade rather than change their rules to include everyone. (Proteus later started parading again in 2000). Later, two federal courts said that this rule was against the First Amendment right to free association. However, the Krewe of Comus never started parading again.

The Pickwick Club Connection

An article from 1882 mentioning The Pickwick Club and Comus in New Orleans

It is now known that The Pickwick Club was a public group that hid the secret activities of the Mistick Krewe. The two groups were connected, but only The Pickwick Club was known to the public. The early members of The Pickwick Club kept their connection to the Mistick Krewe a secret. Both groups became famous on their own. This was similar to how The Louisiana Club was connected to the Knights of Momus.

Today, the members of The Pickwick Club and the Mistick Krewe are not exactly the same. However, it is believed that some people belong to both groups.

Keeping Secrets and Being Exclusive

The Mistick Krewe has always kept its members' identities and its activities (other than the parade) very private. They are even more secret than other Carnival groups.

There's a story that getting into the Mistick Krewe's ball was so hard that a group of uninvited ladies tried to force their way in. In other years, people tried to beg, buy, or even steal invitations to the ball.

Even after the ball is over, invitations from the Mistick Krewe of Comus are very special to collectors. They are rare and often very beautiful.

The "Meeting of the Courts"

The Mistick Krewe of Comus also started another Mardi Gras tradition called the "Meeting of the Courts." This began in 1882. That year, Rex (the King of Carnival) and his Queen formally visited the throne of Comus. This special meeting became the way Mardi Gras season officially ends. This tradition continues even today.

Even though Rex is called the King, some people believe that the "Meeting of the Courts" shows Comus is more important. This is because Rex leaves his own party to be welcomed by Comus at the Mistick Krewe's masked ball.

Mardi Gras Parades Today

The first Comus parade was held on Mardi Gras in 1857, and it became a yearly event. Other groups in New Orleans started up, inspired by Comus, and they also became known as Krewes.

For over 100 years, Comus paraded on Mardi Gras night. It was the very last parade of the Carnival season. It was usually smaller and calmer than other parades that day, like those by Rex and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club.

Comus parades were known for their unique themes. These themes often came from ancient history and old stories. While newer, larger Krewes like Endymion and Bacchus might have themes like "Foods of the World," Comus would choose themes like "Serpent Deities of the Ancient Near East."

See also

• Striker's Independent Society
• The Pickwick Club
• Knights of Momus
• Krewe
• Twelfth Night Revelers