Photo by Denny Culbert
The Cajun country Mardi Gras, or courir, involves krewes that dress completely in costume and travel the countryside begging, performing skits, and singing. Some roam on horseback, others involve children, and, in most cases, a chicken is thrown.
It's a tradition dating back to the arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana, with some aspects reaching back to medieval France; and Miller remains at its heart.
Courir costume-maker Jackie Miller creates outfits primarily for Tee Mamou, a group that travels the Iota countryside on Mardi Gras in addition to performing at nearby D.I.'s Cajun Restaurant and parading through town on Mardi Gras afternoon for the annual Iota Mardi Gras Festival. Everyone in the Tee Mamou krewe must be completely disguised in the traditional costume and be able to chant the Mardi Gras song in French, “which dates back to medieval times in France,” Miller explained.
The costumes consist of tall conical hats called “capuchons,” items meant to poke fun at French royalty. (Some South Louisiana krewes wear mortarboards as well to mock the well-educated.) “They mocked anybody of hierarchy and power,” Miller said.
[Read this: The History of the Capitaines in Cajun Mardi Gras]
The clothes were traditionally a combination of unused items commonly found around the house, but sewn together in ways that turned life topsy-turvy. “It's anything goes or anything that's not normal, like men dressing like women,” she explained. “When these people put these on, they become a different person.”
Once masked, these revelers would beg while performing for the wealthy. “They went around begging because they really needed the food,” Miller said. “Like the song says, it was the end of winter. They had a disguise because they didn't want people to know who they were, and the performance made it not charity. They felt like they were giving something back.”
Today, when Tee Mamou travels from house to house on Mardi Gras to “beg,” homeowners throw coins at the members and a live chicken that the revelers must catch, a ritual that may also serve as a rite of passage among young men and women. Later, the chickens are brought to the Frugé Barn in Iota for a communal gumbo.
The krewes—including the children's and women's krewes—also perform at D.I.'s during the week; and the men's krewe performs during the Mardi Gras Festival.
Miller insists that Tee Mamou is the oldest continually running Cajun country Mardi Gras in Louisiana; others paused their courirs for one reason or another, such as World War II. “[Tee Mamou members] have been dressing like this since the beginning,” she said. “They are the only ones who have never stopped doing the traditional Mardi Gras.”
Miller began making costumes when her sons were young and participating in the nearby Egan Mardi Gras. When they grew older and moved to the Tee Mamou, word spread, and others began asking if Miller would create their costumes as well.
Today, her children and grandchildren participate in Mardi Gras; but she will also sew about fifteen to twenty costumes a year for others, each taking about five hours to create. Miller makes many more capuchons and masks, selling the extras at a booth at the Iota Mardi Gras Festival.
The costumes feature many different styles of fabric with pockets turned out and fringe added like stripes. Her sewing room contains reams of various fabrics in all styles and colors. “They're not hard to do because anything goes,” Miller said.
Many times krewe members purchase two costumes: one to wear throughout the day and one to change into for later performances if the first costume gets soiled-one of the initiations for new members is to be thrown into a pond.
The capuchon is a fabric-covered cone trimmed in the back to hide the neck. “You have to wear it low on your forehead and straight up and down,” said Miller.
Two window screens are used in the masks; they darken the face so others will not recognize the wearer. The eyes are placed low so that the wearer may be able to see through easily, and the long nose is a trademark of the Tee Mamou. Masks are placed on the face after the capuchon and may be turned to the side when not in use. “To run with the Tee Mamou you have to have the screen masks,” Miller explained. “I sell more masks than the suits.”
In addition to selling masks and capuchons at the Iota Mardi Gras Festival, Miller has demonstrated her craft at Louisiana Folk Roots, Vermilionville, Festivals Acadiens, Balfa Camp, and Jazz Fest in New Orleans. She has even traveled to Wisconsin to teach cooking and costume-making classes.
But her heart is in Cajun country come Mardi Gras time.
