There is a tradition, within the Mardi Gras carnival, of a King Cake. In short, it is a tradition that began on the Twelfth Night as part of the Lord of Misrule traditions. The Lord of Misrule served roughly the same purpose that the Saturnalia Princeps served in the Roman traditions - namely, he was a faux monarch who ruled over the revelry and drunken celebration during the holidays. He was the true "Master of Ceremonies."
While the celebratory aspects are too detailed to go too far into - read here - the tradition became associated with Mardi Gras revels via the Mistick Krewe of Comus, one of the earliest Mardi Gras "Krewes" in New Orleans.
Earlier in the day, I had contemplated what to wear and finally decided upon my jester garb. It was appropriate and festive. I outfitted myself in my tye-dye jester attire and a Harlequin marionette (from a somewhat DIFFERENT tradition than the jester figure - but it was the only "bauble" type object I've seen anywhere) and made my way to the grounds.
Shortly after I arrived, Dia made an announcement regarding the King and Queen of Carnival - a cake had been crafted that would decide who would be King and Queen of the Carnival. Needless to say, always one for a bit of luck in a game, I grabbed a piece, took a bite into it and in the midst of the delicious cake found something else in my mouth. I pulled it out and glanced down at it. It was a baby.
"Hmm, interesting," I thought. I pocketed the infant and finished up my slice, not really giving it much thought until someone asked Dia how the King would be chosen. I was familiar with the traditions, of course - but figured that the choice would be decided more randomly than that. Dia announced that finding a baby in your piece of cake was in fact the divination tool. I announced that I had in fact found the baby and was crowned King of the Carnival and came up to take my seat on the throne.
The time was now set to find a queen. One gentleman - a gargoyle, in fact - got a baby in his cake but since neither of us were queens in either sense, haha! we knew that that would not be appropriate. Instead, he perched behind me as the royal court gargoyle. This is not, in fact, a tradition but by God, I am the King and I made it one.
Needless to say, the ladies were taking slice after slice in an attempt to find the baby and it took quite some time after the gargoyle had gotten his piece until a lady declared she had found it. Imagine my pleased surprised when I saw that it was my good friend, Miss Laval!
Queen Elle, the Gargoyle and King Puck.
Despite a few problems - including my intoxication and brief sojourn at the bottom of the river and more realistic problems like LL forcing me to upgrade Windlight after I'd crashed - everything went, I do believe, fairly well.
I've always been rather fond of the 'Lord of Misrule' character and am thankful to the gods and fate for bestowing the honour upon me of being such in the Caledon celebration.
A brief but amusing personal fact - I put on my titler shortly before selecting my cake, and changed my title to "Hail Comus!" Comus is, for those unfamiliar with mythology, reportedly the son of Bacchus and Circe. Wikipedia has the following to say:
In Greek mythology, Comus or Komos is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He represents anarchy and chaos. During his festivals in Ancient Greece, men and women exchanged clothes. He was depicted as a young man on the point of unconsciousness from drink. He had a wreath of flowers on his head and carried a torch that was in the process of being dropped. Unlike the purely carnal Pan or purely intoxicated Bacchus, Comus was a god of excess. He is a son of Bacchus and Circe.
This God's name inspired a Masque by John Milton as well as a band from the 70s I love (but are certainly not for everyone!). There is also the Komos procession that somehow evolved in Greek Old Comedy theater and Momus, the god of satire, mockery and criticism.
Of course, the real yardstick is how religious fundamentalists feel about the celebration. ;)
Hail Comus! Hail Bacchus! Hail Venus!
And do give some respect to your King and Queen, our loyal subjects!
3 comments:
Oh my King, we did rule rather well didn't we? And no regicide was necessary...although the Gargoyle should be watched a bit closely...
Comus is where the word "Comedy" comes from.
Good point, Dia! I should have made a note of that in my post.
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