It is Fat Tuesday in the small towns of Choupic and Gheens. Friends, family and adventure seekers gather around for a parade, a good time and the opportunity to run from the infamous Mardi Gras’ers.A Mardi Gras’er, armed with a kite stick, car antenna or fishing pole decorated in purple, green and gold and wearing a costume, chases people and then whips them with their object of choice. The victim is then forced to say prayers or ask forgiveness for sins.
“People make it a big event,” Lauren Plaisance, family and consumer science sophomore from Choupic, said. “No one talks about the parade; we all just share stories of how many times we were hit or what the Mardi Gras’ers made us do.”
Choupic is located approximately eight miles northwest of Thibodaux on Hwy. 304, and Gheens is located approximately 30 miles southeast from Nicholls on Hwy. 654. Gheens and Choupic both have fewer than 3,000 residents.
The Mardi Gras’ers in Choupic gather into three or four trucks on Fat Tuesday before the parade. Upon seeing children, they pile out of the truck and decide which people to taunt. Corey Stein, freshman from Chackbay, said that the Choupic Mardi Gras’ers usually go after children and teenagers, ages five to 14.
Stein said that the people are not whipped hard and most actually enjoy it. “It’s all fun and games,” Stein said. “It’s a tradition.”
However, the Mardi Gras’ers in Gheens are not as selective in choosing whom to whip.
“They pretty much hit anyone in their way,” Melissa Toups, freshman from Lockport, said. “Although if you know a Mardi Gras’er you are more likely to be picked on.”
In order to stop a Gheens Mardi Gras’er from continuing to hit a person, the person must say “pardon, pardon.”
“It’s worse if you run from the Mardi Gras’ers,” Toups said. “They’ll beat you harder.”
In both Choupic and Gheens there are certain initiation procedures for those wishing to become a Mardi Gras’er.
Stein was initiated as a Mardi Gras’er last year. The qualifications for a Mardi Gras’er in Choupic are that the person must be male and at least 18-years-old or a senior in high school. Initiation for a Mardi Gras’er takes place on the morning of the parade at 7 a.m. at Big G’s bar in Choupic.
“They make all of the new Mardi Gras’ers kneel down in a line, and the old Mardi Gras’ers hit the new members to let them know how hard is too hard to hit,” Stein said. “It lasts for about 20 minutes.”
Anyone who leaves the initiation cannot serve as a Mardi Gras’er that year and would have to be initiated again the next year, according to Stein. Members only have to go through the initiation process once.
“I’m really excited about being able to initiate guys this year,” Stein said.
Similar initiation procedures take place in Gheens on the morning of the parade, which is also on Fat Tuesday. The Mardi Gras’ers meet at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Gheens, where the same demonstration of showing the new Mardi Gras’ers the right whipping force takes place.
In both parades, it is common for the Mardi Gras’ers to wear costumes.
“Many of the Mardi Gras’ers prepare their costumes a month in advance,” Stein said. “It’s something a Mardi Gras’er looks forward to every year.”
Beth Champagne, a native of Gheens, said that because things have gotten out of hand in recent years, Mardi Gras’ers’ participation has decreased.
“There used to be 10 trucks and no cops, but people tend to get a little crazy when they drink and now the cops come and there are only about five trucks,” Champagne said.
However, Captain Eddie Rodrigue of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said that there have been no reported incidents of a Mardi Gras’er being arrested.
“It’s more of a scare tactic than anything,” Rodrigue said. “The whipping usually stops before it gets out of hand.”
Stein has heard stories of parents complaining because their children had welts on their legs, but no arrests have occurred that he knows of. Most of the children that are whipped actually enjoy it, Stein said.
“A lot of the kids brag to their friends about being chased by the Mardi Gras’ers,” Stein said.
