Lundi Gras
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Lundi Gras (French for "Fat Monday") is a series of Shrove Monday events which take place in New Orleans during the city's Mardi Gras festivities. It includes the tradition of Rex, king of the New Orleans carnival, and Zulu King arriving by boat. Some of the traditions date back to 1874, but the day was not widely celebrated until 1987,[1] when the arrival of Rex was included in a series of river-related events under the name of "Lundi Gras". Lundi Gras was the creation of journalist Errol Laborde. The event was staged with the cooperation of Riverwalk Marketplace and its then marketing director Carol Thistle Lentz. The events are detailed in Laborde's book, Krewe: The Early New Orleans Carnival from Comus to Zulu.
In 1874, 18 years after the beginning of modern Carnival celebrations in New Orleans, Rex chose to have a grand arrival in New Orleans from the Mississippi River. Once on dry land, Rex and his royal court were placed in carriages and driven through the streets to City Hall. Therein, the mayor and various city officials would present King with the keys to the city and proclaim the rule of Rex in this mystical and temporary realm of Carnival. Typically, the proclamation decreed the beginning of Mardi Gras and Rex's reign at sunrise the following morning.[citation needed]
The Rex landing was a success, quickly becoming a treasured part of the Carnival celebrations which was unique to New Orleans, but no other country or parishes observed the Monday before Shrovetide. The landing continued until World War I stopped Carnival in New Orleans. When the parades again returned to the streets some two years later, the landing had fallen by the wayside, a seeming casualty of "the war to end war".[citation needed]
