Mardi Gras is typically experienced through parades where beads are whizzing through the air and crowds of people have gathered on the city streets to see the colorful floats.
In other aspects of the carnival season, visions of bejewelled crowns, sequined tunics and majestic courtseys prep for presentations and the revealing of a royal court.
Katherine Gianelloni, family and consumer science senior from Donaldsonville, is Queen of the Krewe of Elks for 2013. She reigned over the Krewe of Elks 80th annual Mardi Gras ball on Feb. 2.
Gianelloni said the hardest part is keeping it a secret. She has kept her Mardi Gras royalty a secret since April 2012, when the Krewe of Elks invited her to be their queen.
Within a Mardi Gras krewe there is typically a committee that oversees the nomination and selection process for the king, which is based on service to the organization. The king, in turn, chooses his queen. In a “mystic” krewe like the Krewe of Elks, the royal court is often not revealed until the krewe’s Mardi Gras ball.
“The king is my dad,” Gianelloni said. “Just keeping it a secret for so long was very difficult because you want to tell everybody, and you want everyone as excited as you are. You want to have the Twelfth Night parties, and you want to have all that, but the Elks organization is a very private organization. My whole family and my boyfriend’s family didn’t even know until Christmas.”
At the Krewe of Elks Mardi Gras ball, the king wears a mask until the end of the presentations at the ball. Pages, heralds, maids, dukes, the royal couple and the queen are presented, and then the queen comes out. In the presentation finale, the king’s mask is removed.
Gianelloni, also president of Delta Zeta sorority, said the presentation was special to her, especially having her sorority sisters there to support her.
“It was the most special thing that’s ever happened to me so far,” Gianelloni said. “You know you get nervous, and you can dream of how the night is going to go but just being there for hours getting anxious for it to happen. I never got to hear the script until that night, so I’m back stage and I hear something about the Killarney rose which is the Delta Zeta rose, so I teared up a little bit hearing that. It was very personal.”
“Coming out to stand with my dad, and of course I knew it was him, even with the mask,” Gianelloni said. “He blew me a kiss and I made my rounds and it was time to reveal him and the tears just kept coming in my eyes. It was just one of those special nights.”
The Krewe of Elks Mardi Gras ball continues into a dance and seperate breakfast. Gianelloni said the night is a whirlwind so it is nice to relax after presentations.
Danielle, nursing sophomore from Thibodaux, is the Queen of the Krewe of Christopher for 2013. The Krewe of Christopher is a Thibodaux krewe once called the Knights of Columbus. The Queen of the Krewe of Christopher is mystic until Twelfth Night, which is approximately a month before Mardi Gras day.
“All of this has been very exciting,” Perque said. “You learn about the krewe as you go, and it’s been a big tradition in my family for a long time.”
Perque grew up in the carnival atmosphere, starting as a lady in waiting when she was about 5 years old. The Kwrewe of Christopher’s Mardi Gras ball is Feb. 11, so Perque has not experienced the event yet as a queen.
“You do those things with the dream of possibly being the queen one day,” Perque said. “We’ve always been very highly involved in the season, and I remember going to all the balls as a little girl to see all the pretty dresses.”
Rosalyn Stilling, psychology freshman from Thibodaux, is a maid of the court for the Krewe of Christopher.
“I like that Mardi Gras is just another great reason to get family and friends together and in this case, meet new people,” Stilling said. “It’s a fun tradition that we get to be a part of. The big beautiful dresses are a great part about it because that’s not something that you get to see and take part in every day.”
Stilling said a Mardi Gras krewe presents a great opportunity to meet people and create memories.
“Danielle [Perque] and I went to school together but we never really had classes together and we weren’t in the same social circles. It’s nice to get to know these people on a different level,” Stilling said.
Annalise Himmel, athletic training senior from Thibodaux, is a past queen for the Krewe of Christopher from 2009.
“It’s just special to keep those traditions,” Himmel said. “There are networking opportunities, and it’s one of the closest things we have to a debutant ball type of thing. It’s a dream come true.”
Himmel said the carnival season creates great opportunities, especially for those who participate in a krewe.
“I absolutely love Mardi Gras,” Himmel said. “I feel like because it’s a part of our culture that no one else around the world really gets to experience, it’s a unique experience to keep those traditions. I like that I can travel and tell people I was a queen of a krewe, and their eyes light up because they think it’s so cool.”