ROUSES_JanFeb2021_Magazine_Pages

like mask made me thankful no one could identify me. As we prepared for the run, repurposed school buses, flatbed trailers and other hauling devices of questionable sturdiness all awaited the bounty of musicians — fiddle players and guitarists and accordionists — who would provide a live soundtrack for the day as we journeyed along the road. A lack of music and dancing definitely isn’t a problem at the courir , where everyone — and I mean everyone — quickly gets swept up in reels and high kicks in the middle of the street. People dance solo if they don’t have a partner, and I quickly went from spinning like a top on my own to being twirled furiously by a man masked like a frog. (Insert your own Prince Charming joke here.) Throughout the day, I joined my fellow runnerswith the kindof wild-eyedenthusiasm that can only be fueled by a potent concoction of adrenaline, competitiveness and a few nips from someone’s flask. I was initiated as a first-timer, and sang “La Vieille Chanson de Mardi Gras” in a call- and-response with the capitaine at the top of my lungs. I chased after the live chickens offered to us as “charity” at neighbors’ homes, collapsing in a dogpile with my fellow Mardi Gras runners. At one stop, I narrowly missed becoming the lucky runner

to capture the chicken and deliver it to the capitaine . Later, we watched a ten-year-old scale a greased pole to unlock a guinea hen caged at the top while we paused to snack on a little mid-run boudin. The sense of comradery at courir is palpable; it isn’t just a time for a little bit of liquor-fueled revelry and flipping your identity topsy-turvy for the day. It’s a two- stepping, fiddle-playing, beer-swilling love letter to the rich history of Acadiana and the communities that ensure that these traditions will be honored for generations to come. A place where the land, music and food are plaited together in a braid so tight it would be impossible to pull out a single strand without it all unraveling. A place where sharing and togetherness are paramount to not just Mardi Gras, but day-to-day life. As “La Danse de Mardi Gras,” a classic of the Cajun-French canon, instructs: Captain, Captain, wave your flag… Let’s go to the next neighbor To ask for charity, you all come and join us You all come and join us for the gumbo tonight!

32 ROUSES JANUARY FEBRUARY 2021