Today was the day of the Church Point Courir de Mardi Gras which is a Cajun country and Medevial tradition of ceremonial begging;bands of masked and costumed horseback riders roam the countryside "begging" for ingredients for their communal gumbo. "Le Capitaine", a caped unmasked rider leads the riders from house to house where they dance and sing for donations. Often the owner will throw a live chicken into the air that the younger costumed men will chase like football players trying to recover a fumble. In addition to the Mardi Gras on horseback, some ride on flatbed trailers pulled by tractors. The courir starts early in the morning and and returns to town by mid afternoon for the parade downtown.
We were invited to Jean and Mattie Mouille's party in downtown Church Point, the self proclaimed "Buggy Capitol of the World". Fred and I arrived at 8AM to do what we could while they all cooked. There were two very large tents set up with cauldrons for cooking Gumbo, Cracklin's, Pork Rinds, Boudin, Jambalaya, Venison Stew, and Rabbit Stew(bottom picture before adding additional ingredients). Additionally there were pits to cook a whole pig and several beef briskets. The vegetable of the day was deep fried sweet potato chips. Around ten o'clock the rest of the guests started to show up, probably at least 200 in all. We ate, drank, and partied until three o'clock when the Courir de Mardi Gras showed up. They came down Main street and we all walked up the street and joined in the celebration. There were about 200 riders (top left picture), 100 chicken chasers(top right) and at least 50 trailers filled with costumed people all throwing beads. The parade lasted more than and hour and a half. What's amazing is that the total population of Church Point is less than 4,000 people.Things quieted down by early evening and we went back to the hotel, and not being very hungry or thirsty called it a night. The people, food, and parade were awesome.
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