Mistick Krewe of Comus


The Mistick Krewe of Comus, founded in 1856, is a New Orleans, Louisiana, Carnival krewe. It is the oldest continuous organization of New Orleans Mardi Gras festivities.
Before Comus was organized, Carnival celebrations in New Orleans were mostly confined to the Roman Catholic Creole community, and parades were irregular and often very informally organized. Comus was organized by largely Protestant Anglo-Americans.

History and formation

In December 1856, six Anglo-American men of New Orleans gathered at Dr. John Pope's Drug Store on the Corner of Jackson and Prytania to begin to organize a secret society to observe Mardi Gras in a more formal and organized fashion than their Creole predecessors. These men invited their businessmen friends, a group of some thirty to forty people, to meet at a club room above the now-defunct Gem Restaurant/Saloon in New Orleans' Vieux Carre on Jan 4, 1857, to organize the Carnival society. The inspiration for the name came from John Milton's Lord of Misrule in his masque Comus. Part of the inspiration for the parade was a Mobile, Alabama, Carnival mystic society, with annual parades, called the Cowbellion de Rakin Society,.
Founding members: Samuel Manning Todd, a drygoods merchant from Utica, New York, who arrived in New Orleans by way of Mobile, Alabama like most of rest; Frank Shaw, Jr., commission merchant; Lloyd Dulany Addison partner Bullitt, Miller & Co. merchants and cotton factors; Dr. John H. Pope, credited with naming the group, and Joseph Ellison, owned Pope, Ellison & Co., commission merchants-Pope was also a pharmacist owning Pope's Drugstore at the corner of Jackson and Prytania where this small coterie initially organized; William Ellison, partner of firm Starke & Ellison, Cotton Brokers.
The new group acquired the costumes, floats, flambeaux, and even theme — their very name, Comus — from the 1856 Cowbellion parade. There are also indications that Striker's Independent Society from Mobile, Alabama, were involved, and they went en masse to the first Comus event.
One Mardi Gras historian describes the Mistick Krewe's creation in New Orleans thus:
Comus' first night parade - replete with torches, marching bands, and rolling floats - was wildly popular with Carnival revelers. So popular was the first Comus parade that the prospect of its second one attracted, for the first time, thousands of out-of-town visitors to New Orleans for the Carnival celebration.

Parade

The Mistick Krewe of Comus presented a parade annually on the evening of Shrove Tuesday from 1857 to 1991 with the only exception being during war. From 1885 to 1890 while the Mistick Krewe of Comus did not parade, the evening parade on Shrove Tuesday was the Krewe of Proteus. In 1890 Comus began parading again as the final parade on Mardi Gras with Proteus reverting to the evening of Lundi Gras.

Parade themes

Respites from revelry

From the first Comus parade until a police strike in 1979, nothing suspended New Orleans' lavish Mardi Gras celebrations except war. On March 1, 1862, Comus issued his first proclamation suspending Carnival revelry on account of war. On that day, the New Orleans Daily Picayune published this notice:
Comus issued an identical proclamation in 1917, another in 1942, and again in 1951. On each occasion, the Captain of Comus persuaded the Captains of other Krewes to refrain from organized revelry during international hostilities.
From 1885-1889, the Mistick Krewe chose not to parade, although other observances continued. During this period, the Krewe of Proteus moved its parade to Carnival night. When Comus resumed parading in 1890, Proteus refused a request to withdraw from parading on Mardi Gras night. The same year, the two parades collided on Canal Street, nearly reaching an impasse. As the Captains of the two groups exchanged defiant expressions, a Comus masker diverted the horse bearing the Captain of Proteus, and Comus was able to complete its procession.

Withdrawal from parading

In 1991 the New Orleans City Council, led by Democrat Dorothy Mae Taylor, passed an ordinance that required social organizations, including Mardi Gras Krewes, to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licensure. The Comus organization withdrew from parading, rather than identify its membership. Two Federal courts later decided that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association and an unwarranted intrusion into the privacy of the groups subject to the ordinance. Despite the Circuit Court ruling, the Krewe of Comus has not returned to the streets to parade. The Mistick Krewe of Comus still holds an annual ball on Mardi Gras night.

Early affiliation with [The Pickwick Club]

Membership in Comus was historically associated with membership in the private Pickwick Club, and for a time the two organizations were one. In 1884, the Club and the Krewe of Comus severed all official ties.
In the 20th and early 21st centuries, their membership is not identical; but it is believed that there are members common to both groups.

Carnival secrecy and exclusivity

Comus has jealously guarded the identities of its membership and the privacy of its activities, perhaps even more than the other Carnival organizations subscribing to the traditional code of secrecy.
Legend has it that admittance to the Mistick Krewe's ball was so highly sought-after that a group of uninvited ladies formed a flying wedge and attempted to force their way into the Comus ball. In other years, uninvited persons have tried to beg, buy, or steal invitations to the ball.
Even after the Mystic Krewe of Comus ball is over, its invitations are prized by collectors. They are both rare and uncommonly beautiful.

Meeting of the courts

The Mistick Krewe of Comus also originated another Carnival tradition: the "Meeting of the Courts." The practice originated in 1882, when Rex and his Queen paid a formal visit to the throne of Comus. This ritualized meeting eventually evolved into the symbolic conclusion of the Mardi Gras season, a practice which continues to this day.
Although Rex is the titular King, some observers believe that the Meeting of the Courts - in which Rex leaves his own festivities and is received by a seated Comus at the Mistick Krewe's bal masque - establishes Comus as the more prestigious of the two organizations in the Carnival hierarchy.

Mardi Gras parades

The first Comus parade was held on Mardi Gras 1857, and this became an annual event. Other organizations sprang up in New Orleans in the 19th century, inspired by the Comus model, and also came to be known as Krewes.
Parading on Mardi Gras night, Comus was the final parade of the carnival season for over 100 years. It was much smaller and more sedate than the other parades of the day put on by Rex and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club.
The Comus parades became known for their sometimes obscure themes relating to ancient history and mythology. While other New Orleans parades might have a theme such as "Foods of the World" or "Broadway Show Tunes," Comus would present themes on the order of "Serpent Deities of the Ancient Near East."