Crimson & Teal & Purple

Crimson is the flambeaux — the deep vivid crimson of the flambeaux — the most dramatic and most specifically New Orleans element of the Mardi Gras parade tradition. Flambeaux (French: torches — from French: flambeau — torch — the New Orleans term for the professional torch carriers who illuminated the night parade routes before the era of electric street lighting, and who continue the tradition today as a ceremonial and theatrical element of the most prestigious Mardi Gras parades). The flambeaux tradition: flambeaux carriers (flambeaux men — traditionally African American workers from the Tremé neighborhood, the oldest African American neighborhood in the United States — the Tremé district of New Orleans was the site of Congo Square, the only place in the antebellum American South where enslaved people were legally permitted to gather for music, dance, and cultural expression on Sundays, a tradition central to the development of jazz, blues, and American popular music) began carrying flaming torches in the earliest New Orleans night parades in the early 19th century. The specific crimson of the flambeaux flame: kerosene-fueled flambeaux flames (the most traditional type) produce a vivid orange-to-crimson light — the specific warm, deep orange-red of the kerosene flame against the dark night sky of the parade route creates the most atmospherically exciting and most uniquely New Orleans element of the Mardi Gras visual experience. Modern flambeaux (now using propane rather than kerosene for safety) produce a brighter, more purely crimson-to-orange flame. Teal is the Neptune float — the dark vivid teal of the aquatically themed parade floats associated with the ocean-themed Mardi Gras krewes (particularly: Krewe of Neptune — one of the oldest parading krewes, parading since 1896; Krewe of Nereus; and the most elaborate aquatic float themes in the Endymion, Bacchus, and Rex parade traditions). The most elaborate Mardi Gras parade floats (some reaching 18 meters in length, 4-5 meters in width, and 6 meters in height — requiring multiple semi-trailers to transport) devoted to sea themes use the most vivid teal-to-deep-blue-green colors for their ocean surface, wave, and sea-life elements — the contrast of vivid teal sea-imagery against the dark New Orleans night parade sky creates one of the most visually dramatic float designs in the Mardi Gras tradition. Purple is the official — the deep regal purple of the three official Mardi Gras colors (purple, gold, and green — established as the official Mardi Gras colors by Rex, King of Carnival, during the 1892 Mardi Gras celebration — Rex is the most prestigious and most traditionally significant Mardi Gras krewe, having organized the first formal daytime Mardi Gras parade in 1872). The official symbolism of the three colors: (1) Purple represents justice; (2) Gold represents power; (3) Green represents faith. The purple of Mardi Gras is specifically a deep, medium-to-dark purple — not light lavender or violet, but a dignified, regal purple appropriate to the color of justice. Purple bunting, banners, streamers, and bead necklaces (the most characteristic Mardi Gras souvenir — bead necklaces in purple, gold, and green are the most universally distributed and most internationally recognized Mardi Gras gift) are the single most immediately Mardi Gras-identifiable color element.