Irish/Italian Parade

I will write today about that to clarify a "oarade throwing" subject for you and elaborate a little bit about what I referenced previously. Yep....One of my favorite parades in New Orleans was held on Sunday. It's the annual Irish/Italian parade, a co-parade that celebrates the Italian St. Joseph's Day and the Irish St. Patrick's Day. Few places on earth outside of New Orleans would be able to have the kind of cooperation it takes to bring such disparate groups together in a sharing of a religious and secular holidays with a huge parade. Well, it's a lesson in getting along that those Fundamental Islamics could learn and might well also be instructive for the United Nations.
This parade is hugely popular here, as shown by the large crowds decked out in green (Irish) and red (Italian) colors and camped with lawn chairs, ice chests and not just a few cans of beer to swill while watching. To say that this parade is not disorganized is to say Britney Spears is not a mess. But we love a number of things about it.
First, the parade uses a number of Mardi Gras floats from krewes who paraders a few weeks ago and also displays about 50 huge trucks decorated in the theme of the St. Patrick and St. Joseph's Day holiday. But most importantly, the riders throw a great deal of food items to the crowd. It's no wonder that I saw more a than a few signs along the parade route that said "Veggies wanted here". (the riders responded with a barrage of them in the direction of the sign holders) And thirdly, the float riders toss a huge number of traditional Mardi Gras throws as well as the food. At the end of this parade the street was covered with every imaginable throw and enough vegetables to feed the starving children of Darfur.
I stood and sat on a chair toward the back of the crowd this time but still caught more than I needed- carrots, potatoes, onions, turnips, lemons, oranges, tangerines, cabbages, cucumbers, Ramon Noodles (no kidding, I got about 7 packs of those), candy bars, small packs of cookies, beads, stuffed animals, frisbees, fishing lures (only in New Orleans), felt and rubber flowers, a mini Italian flag, felt and rubber footballs and various other trinkets. Among Jane, her friend, myself and her grandmother we had about 150 kilos of "stuff", necessitating three trips in order to carry it all back to my automobile.
My favorite marching group was in the parade again this year, The Shady Ladies. The Shady Ladies are about 40 mostly overweight, elderly and skimpily dressed women who all appeared highly inebriated (even though we saw the parade at the beginning of the route). If a male spectator asks a Shady Lady for a pair of beads or a paper flower, she will likely stagger toward him and plant a big kiss on the check as well as punishment for receiving the desired throw. Seeing those ladies dressed in their short leather miniskirts and tight blouses was like watching an elephant wearing a speedo do the tango.
In case you're wondering...I didn't get a kiss and kept my distance to just watch them put on their show. Thank God none of those Shady Ladies is my wife!
Some people, particularly those of Irish or Italian descent, dress for the parade in what they deem to be suitable costumes. The best one I saw this year was the man who had a hand sewn, garishly green tuxedo and leprechaun hat. He had also dyed his long beard in multi colors for the holiday, one third green, one third white and one third red.
The most clever costume was a simple one made in a moment of creativity during the beginning portion of the parade. This gentleman used a large leaf from one of the cabbages he caught to fashion a "cabbage mask" that so enthralled the float riders than a number of them produced cameras to snap pictures. Cabbage man not only stole the show, he was consistently bombarded with throws the whole parade as a result.
This was a particularly friendly and joyous crowd, as most our parade spectators are. It is often said that New Orleans is the only city in which Mardi Gras or such parades as this one could work. Anywhere else there would be riots along with the parade. But we know how to have fun at parades, how to engage in a controlled madness of sort. We understand that spectators of a parade are as important as the paraders.
Given that this is the last parade here until next carnival season (beginning January 6th) we wanted to enjoy this one as much as possible. Unfortunately, it is too hot and humid in my city to parade from April through September, and there are no holidays we have worthy of or fitting of a parade from September until carnival time. Maybe rationing our parades this way helps keep them alive for us when they do occur and is the reason we never tire of seeing them.
But now....what am I to do with all the veggies I have? I did make a creamed cabbage and beef and cabbage dishes for dinner, but that merely puts a small dent in some of the cabbage and the onions.
Oh well, with about a kilo of carrots I can make a nice carrot cake tomorrow....Our parades do have their way of getting us in the kitchen. Thank God they didn't throw tofu! I have no idea what I would do with that.