by Erika Armyn

Created on: February 07, 2009

On Mardi Gras, the French Quarter is a throbbing vein of gold, green and royal purple, swarming with revelers draped in beads and baubles in the emblematic colors. Like King's Cake and excessive libations, those jewel-like tones of gold, emerald and amethyst have become inextricably associated with New Orleans' pre-Lenten parade. While flaunting the collective colors has become a tradition symbolic of Fat Tuesday and all of its connotations, each individual hue has its own meaning, deeply rooted in history.

The earliest Mardi Gras parades had little in common with the more organized processions to come in later years. The homemade floats sailing through the street were laughably crude, and celebrations often became debaucherous spectacles. By the 1850s, New Orleans officials were set to put an end to these helter-skelter festivities. In 1857, the Mystic Krewe of Comus was founded, and this group hosted the city's first themed parade. Similar organizations followed, and all would go on to prepare themed parades each Mardi Gras Day.

When the city announced the impending visit of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanoff of Russia in 1872, a particular group of young men took upon the task of producing a glorious, lavish parade that would both honor and entertain the Grand Duke during his stay, as well as provide a merry time for New Orleans citizens and other visitors. These men thus established the Rex Organization, or Krewe of Rex, named for the Latin word for "king", as in the King of Carnival. A member of the group was elected to don the royal garb of Rex, complete with crown and scepter, and lead the parade down Bourbon Street on a horse.

The Rex Organization extended true Southern hospitality to the Grand Duke during his visit, going so far as to incorporate aspects of the Duke's personality with their theme. Not only was the Grand Duke granted the privilege of selecting the Krewe's official song ("If Ever I Cease to Love"), but, as the story often goes, also given the honor of choosing the official colors of Mardi Gras that we still recognize today - gold, emerald and royal purple.

In 1892, two decades after staging its first annual parade, the Krewe of Rex put on a celebration with the theme "Symbolism of Colors", which assigned each color a special meaning. Gold is representative of power, green stands for faith, and purple is symbolic of justice. Collectively, they have come to represent the Carnival celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Interestingly, these bright colors have influenced the school colors of two universities in the area. Louisiana State University flashes its purple and gold with pride, and Tulane adopted the remaining color, green, to accompany blue.

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