On the twelfth night of Christmas, when Santa finally retires for a long winter’s nap and Dionysus awakens to start his debauched reign, the St. John Fools of Misrule will proclaim that Carnival season has arrived on the northshore. And joining them in that Jan. 6 duty this year will be Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. & The Wild Magnolias, an iconic Mardi Gras Indian tribe never before a part of St. Tammany's celebration.
Although Carnival historian Arthur Hardy says an individual Mardi Gras Indian or two has occasionally appeared during Carnival events in St. Tammany, this is the first tribe to officially participate, and he says that’s a big deal.
This will be the 13th year that the Fools of Misrule have performed this secular Twelfth Night tradition of retiring Christmas and welcoming Mardi Gras, and the organization says it is “honored” to share that sacrosanct duty with a traditional band of masking Indians from the heart of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
It all takes place in Covington when, dressed in wigs and legit Renaissance pirate wear, the masked Fools will take friendly control of Covington’s historic St. John District to avow that Mardi Gras madness is once again afoot in the land.
The Fools will first gather for a couple of hours of feasting and tippling in the Seiler Bar, where they will be joined by The Wild Magnolias (whose members also record and perform as funk musicians).
But at 6 p.m., the entourage will exit the bar and begin making its way toward the Covington Trailhead, stopping in pub-crawl fashion for more toasting at a few watering holes along the route.
With flambeaux adding both light and drama to the night, the streets will fill with the flash of brilliant Indian feathers, the finery of male Fools and female Jewels, and the hauntingly skeletal Skulls, a special detachment of Fools dressed in bones. Some will carry cowbells and "whips" to help drive away any evil spirits encountered en route to the trailhead.
Once there, toasts will be given and a new Lord of Fools will select himself by picking the lucky King Cake slice that conceals the all-important bean. The new Lord will be crowned, more toasts offered, and then this movable feast of Fools and friends will process out of the trailhead.
There will be a few more tavern stops (and toasts) on the return trip to finish the party at the Seiler Bar, which is where the Fools of Misrule idea originated among friends in 2011. Before the Fools, there was no designated group and no tradition to usher in the Carnival season north of Lake Pontchartrain.
Most Fools of Misrule rituals are based on those of an ancient English men's group whose members clamored along roadways creating havoc and noise, but the St. John moniker pays tribute to the St. John District of Old Covington where the Fools began as an idea among friends over drinks.