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Mac and Mac's Pick: The 'real' Mardi Gras is in Mobile

By WEEK Producer
February 20, 2012 Updated Feb 21, 2012 at 11:12 AM CDT

Mardi Gras is being celebrated everywhere, from Rio to Quebec,
and in Mobile, Alabama.

King Felix the Third now reigns over the Mardi Gras revelry in downtown Mobile. Mobile residents will tell you their Mardi Gras tradition goes back before those upstarts in New Orleans.

Monday, the day before Fat Tuesday, the king of the Mobile carnival celebration arrives on a yacht. Tuesday, the parades and revelry associated with the big celebration begin, but Monday, the annual Joe Cain Day Merry Widows procession took place in Mobile.

Joe Cain is credited with starting the tradition of Mardi Gras celebrations, which began in Mobile before the Civil War. Since 1974, the Merry Widows have held a procession to Cain's burial site.

As the crowd watches and mournful music plays, the Wailing Widows lay beads at Joe Cain's grave. Presumably, Mr. Cain does not then rise and take off his shroud.

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