Traditions of New Orleans
A Creole city of Mardi Gras, second-line parades, jazz funerals and gumbo, where food and music are inherited.
New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718 and shaped by Spanish, African, Caribbean and Native American cultures. Its calendar of Carnival, saints' days and parades makes the city sound and taste different from the rest of the United States. Music and cooking are woven into community life.
Mardi Gras and the second line
Carnival season, from Twelfth Night to Fat Tuesday, brings krewes who parade on floats and throw beads and doubloons. Black communities hold Mardi Gras Indian processions, in which men sew huge beaded suits each year. A second line is a parade in which a brass band leads and neighbours follow with handkerchiefs and umbrellas, also at funerals.
At the table
Gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice on Mondays, po'boys, oysters, and beignets with chicory coffee are the foundations. A king cake with a hidden plastic baby is baked during Carnival, and the finder buys the next. On All Saints' Day, families tend tombs and whitewash them.
Signature traditions of New Orleans
Also part of it, and being written: Mardi Gras in New Orleans (The carnival.), Gumbo (The stew.), King cake (The cake.).
A trail idea for New Orleans
- French Quarter Walk early in the morning.
- Frenchmen Street Hear jazz.
- Café du Monde Eat beignets.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mardi Gras Indians: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Second line: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0, source