Saturday, January 7, 2012

We are...blessed!


Thank you to these patient boys for carrying our new banner. They had to deal with me occasionally grabbing it and saying, "hold it--stop!" or "move over a little...yes, there, there!"..or "slooow down!"  A few times, they were like, "yah, we got it. we got it!" I think of Joan leading men into battle..."yeah, we got it..we got it, miss hyper chick!" 


I keep getting choked up when I see these photos of Monsignor blessing our sword. It really feels like a miracle to me. That's Maid 2011 Mallory Young holding it. In the background, Stephen Swain, who coordinated this moment..thank you Stephen!!! We hope we can do this EVERY YEAR! I will try not to request it in all caps when I write you next year! But...I'm so excited!

 

Thanks to krewe member Rafael Monzon, we had a "real" Mardi Gras crown and septre for our Maid 2012 Aggie Bell to crown our King 2012 Damien Regnard. In the background are banners of Joan's words made by krewe member Amanda Helm, of "that Wisconsin monk group" fame!




A classic New Orleans image...krewe member Roberta LeGrand handing our most simple and sacred signature items, numbered candles and prayer cards, to secondline dancer and leader of Skinz and Bonez group, Darryl Young...very very cool. We should get him involved somehow next year...hmmm!


Thank you to every single person near and far who made this 600th birthday so very special. We are still learning with every parade...we are a procession and spectacle perhaps more than a parade and stuff...yet...as the crowds grow and more families come, we want to create more "stuff" to give out..and we want to grow the spectacle more, with more angels and birthday themed elements, more Joans, more music, more knights and soldiers, more fire dancers (probably without real fire..think..baton twirlers w/ ribbons rather than flames!)...stay tuned...we will welcome new krewe members in May when we gather again for our annual Salon de Jeanne  conference.  It's heartening to get so many emails about an interest in membership! We have struck a chord...and look forward to continuing to create harmonies between art, history, religion, and all things New Orleans! Please send me notes on your ideas, suggestions, insights, reactions, reflections!  stjoankrewe@yahoo.com. Thanks for the love!

Friday, January 6, 2012





PARADE BEGINS AT 6 P.M. AT CONTI AND DECATUR STREETS (BIENVILLE STATUE)

  • THIS YEAR JOAN AND HER SWORD WILL BE BLESSED IN FRONT OF ST LOUIS CATHEDRAL BY MONSIGNOR KERN AT APPROXIMATELY 6:15 P.M.

  • ·CITY PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY KRISTIN GISLESON PALMER'S OFFICE WILL BE READ BY AN ACTOR PORTRAYING THE FOUNDER OF NEW ORLEANS, JEAN-BAPTISTE LE MOYNE, SIEUR DE BIENVILLE, BEFORE THE PARADE DEPARTS

  • SIX JOANS ON HORSEBACK:   OUR MAID OF HONOR, OUR WARRIOR JOAN, OUR "JOANIE ON THE PONY" PORTRAYED BY KRISTIN GISLESON PALMER, AND THREE ADDITIONAL JOANS ON WHITE HORSES WILL HONOR JOAN'S 600TH YEAR!

  • KING CAKE CEREMONY FOLLOWING THE PARADE WITH SPEECHES IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH BY KREWE KING DAMIEN REGNARD AND KREWE MAID AGGIE BELL AND KING CAKE DONATED BY SUCRE (BUT AS ALWAYS, THE PUBLIC IS ENCOURAGED TO BRING KING CAKES TO EAT AND SHARE!)

  • Special thanks to our sponsor hotel: BIENVILLE HOUSE HOTEL!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

We do have a sense of humor! We can even be quite cheesy!


When new krewe member Mary Langston brought an empty box of Joan of Arc Brie to a recent gathering, saying she was thinking of making it into a hat for the parade, I was delighted. When she sent me a photograph of what she'd made, I was even more delighted! Welcome, Mary! We think you'll be very comfortable here with the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc! Step right in...

I founded the krewe with a deep respect and love of Joan, first inspired in my teens when I read "Saint Joan" by George Bernard Shaw. As I grow older my appreciation for her deepens...as does my own sense of humor about all things bright, beautiful, and terrifying.

(Was it Katrina that made me this way, or was it just that Katrina happened when I'd reached a point where so many sad and bad things seemed to have happened...it kind of opened the floodgates for me and washed it all away???)

I think that New Orleanians--natives or transplants--embrace irony on a deeper level than elsewhere. (Very humid town, very dry humor...) At first I thought this was a really negative place; now I realize people here have surrendered in ways that allow one to experience life more fully...I feel like I'm living on all levels in this place, and I believe that I am truly alive here. That doesn't mean it's the happiest place on Earth. No, San Francisco is Utopian...New Orleans is...U-Hope-ian?

All this to say, no matter how sincere and passionate one may be here about anything, there is often a more brutal reality that kind of, well, takes things down a notch and might make you a little more  sarcastic than usual. As a friend of mine says, this place can make you into a "weathered stone". But some of us accept that, and sprinkle glitter on our stoney selves, and step out into the brutal sunshine...and the light bounces off of us!

We have a krewe member who is making a "Joan of Artichoke" costume. We have a member who will be tossing Atomic Fireballs. We hand out matchbooks, for gosh sake!

Still, I'm quite serious this year. In addition to prints of a painting of the statue made by local artist Chris Long, and a quote about Joan from Vita Sackville West tied to my little tambourines,  I will be handing out handmade crosses with the classic Joan quote "I am not afraid. I was born to do this."

Our Maid of Honor will hand out 16 swords, and will receive  a sword blessed in front of the Cathedral.

And our King? He'll be giving out candy Ring Pops.

Balance in the Big Easy...from the cherished to the cheesy.




Learning to wield a sword


"And this is how you hold the wooden sword as you go down Chartres...remember to smile!"

This is our Maid in training with our original Joan of Arc, aka Caye Mitchell, who rides in many local parades and is the core leader of our krewe. She donates her time, love, and horses to the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc, and mentors our student Joans who win the Maid of Honor role.  To the right, 2012 Maid of Honor Aggie Bell, a creative and accomplished young woman at McGhee who impressed our judges with everything from her innovation in starting a Harry Potter Community Service Club to her athleticism,  literary and leadership experience, her love of music and French language skills.

So far the two young women who won this honor before Aggie (Blair Davis, 2010; Mallory Young, 2011) have both been so inspired by the role that they based their college application essays on the experience. Both learned much more about Joan than they ever expected, and both came away from the parade realizing that Mardi Gras is more than they ever imagined...

Congratulations, Aggie, and may the force of Joan be with you!

Why We Love Joan


 

 
When we reflect that her century was the brutalest, the wickedest, the
rottenest in history since the darkest ages, we are lost in wonder at
the miracle of such a product from such a soil. The contrast between her
and her century is the contrast between day and night. She was truthful
when lying was the common speech of men; she was honest when honesty was
become a lost virtue; she was a keeper of promises when the keeping of a
promise was expected of no one; she gave her great mind to great
thoughts and great purposes when other great minds wasted themselves
upon pretty fancies or upon poor ambitions; she was modest, and fine,
and delicate when to be loud and coarse might be said to be universal;
she was full of pity when a merciless cruelty was the rule; she was
steadfast when stability was unknown, and honorable in an age which had
forgotten what honor was; she was a rock of convictions in a time when
men believed in nothing and scoffed at all things; she was unfailingly
true to an age that was false to the core; she maintained her personal
dignity unimpaired in an age of fawnings and servilities; she was of a
dauntless courage when hope and courage had perished in the hearts of
her nation; she was spotlessly pure in mind and body when society in the
highest places was foul in both--she was all these things in an age when
crime was the common business of lords and princes, and when the highest
personages in Christendom were able to astonish even that infamous era
and make it stand aghast at the spectacle of their atrocious lives black
with unimaginable treacheries, butcheries, and beastialities.

 
--From Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Confessions of a trinket buyer: CALLING ALL ARTISTS...Help us Repent!


So while looking online for a new tambourine to replace the one I bought years ago at the Renaissance Fair, I found these cute (what other word is there for tiny silver tambourines) things that seemed to me good favors for our parade...

(...we don't call them throws...because we don't throw them! think party favors for Joan of Arc's birthday...)

But I am feeling quite guilty...forgive me, Joan, for I have sinned..I ordered something made in China to give out at your parade!

Okay...we will have locally made King cake...locally made banners and costumes and local musicians...handmade dresses and hats (even some made out of Joan of Arc Brie packages..really!) and handcarved wooden swords and handsewn Joan "dolls"...on and on and on...handmade "cards" made on an antique bookpress...handpainted ornaments, decoupaged magnets...even bundled, fresh flowers and seed packets...

Can one argue that "hand-changed" or "hand-delivered" (to you, the parade goer)  is still better than just "store-bought" or "machine-made"?

If you buy something at Dollar Tree or on Amazon.com then spend hours altering it with glitter and Joan's coat of arms and gems and lots of love...

Is that...handmade? No. But it is hand-altered...and that's still better than plain old beads, baby!

Come out and get something handed to you--not thrown at you. It makes all the difference. Even if we bought it somewhere else.