Krewe of Bacchus

It was January 2, 1968 when I first landed in New Orleans. The music, art and culture, and its people combined with the place' amazing architechture made me decide to stay and see more.

My daily walks to the French Quarter made me remember fond memories of my love. I enjoyed every minute of my new discoveries about life, a different life where there were different people who accepted each other's differences and practiced an entirely different way of life. I accepted all those differences with no judgment. I respected their beliefs. Same way as I respected my Allan. And the way he respected me.

As I strolled down Bourbon Street, I saw gays and lesbians along the way. I saw them as unique people who were happy being themselves. If you would ask me years ago, when I was younger, about my opinion about these people, I would surely avoid them and judge them as sinners. This time as I heard them talk and pour out their hearts, I regarded them as people with genuine appreciation for fun, love and the real meaning of life. So I could say that the Rue Bourbon threw magic on me as I experienced myself turning into a new person day by day. With the street being in the heart of the French Quarter, I really fell in love and accepted.

Most of the nights, I frequented the Absinthe House, a famous bar in Bourbon Street. Naturally, I learnt about the Krewe of Bacchus. It was the brainchild of Owen Edward Brennan, Sr., a true visionary. Brennan, owner of the Absinthe House and later founder of the Brennan House in Royal Street, was also the father of the first Captain of Bacchus, Owen "Pip" Brennan, Jr.

According to what I heard, in the late 1940’s, Brennan realized that a large segment of his clientele was seasonally unhappy – namely tourists to the Mardi Gras. So, in 1949, Brennan decided to spend an enormous amount of money to revolutionize the Mardi Gras. He created a brand new Krewe, called the Krewe of Bacchus,which was wide open to tourists.Brennan staged two Bacchus Carnival balls, one in 1949 and the other in 1950 before his death in 1955. But as years passed by, Carnival in New Orleans had been losing its luster slowly but surely. There was a lot of talk around town about what should be done to give a spark to the celebration.

So weeks after my arrival in New Orleans in 1968, Owen "Pip" Brennan, Jr., son of the late Brennan, held a meeting at Brennan’s Restaurant to address this problem. What emerged was a rebirth of the vision his father conceived almost 20 years earlier: The Krewe of Bacchus.
It was decided that the Krewe of Bacchus would break with Carnival tradition by staging a Sunday night parade that would be the highlight of the Carnival season. Its floats would be bigger and more spectacular than anything previously seen in Carnival. Furthermore, Bacchus decided to have a national celebrity king lead its parade, breaking ranks with 113 years of Carnival tradition.

I got excited envisioning how the Carnival would be. So I told myself I would like to experience it. I would stay . I'd love to.

To let the days passed by easily, I walked further and further till I saw what they called a Univerisity. They said it was called Tulane University. In one corner, I saw a young black boy with a beautiful eyes listening intently to his lecturer. I found out he was in his third year of studies. I flew near him. In an instant, I learnt more about him. As if talking to me , he narrated: "I was raised in New Orleans and attended an all-male, predominately black Catholic high school named St. Augustine, founded and run by the Josephite Priests. The school was and already quite famous for its academic and athletic accomplishments in 1965. The school was featured in an article in Time magazine."

"I remember my class posing for the group picture on the school steps. The band was well-known and "The Marching 100," led by Lionel Hampton, was highly respected in the community and nationwide.The basketball game between Jesuit High School, which was the champion of the white high school basketball league, and the St. Augustine Purple Knights was portrayed in the movie Passing Glory, produced by St. Augustine and Tulane alumnus Harold Sylvester, who was a sophomore in 1965. The movie allowed for some poetic license and was not entirely accurate. "

"In the spring of 1961, the archbishop declared that all Catholic schools in new Orleans would be integrated. I was chosen to be one of the first black students to attend Jesuit High at the start of the 1962 school term -- my sophomore year. Primarily because of my mother's concerns, I remained at St. Augustine High School and that turned out to be the best thing for me and a pivotal point in my life. I graduated in 1965 as Valedictorian and enrolled at Tulane University. There were not many blacks at Tulane, and I was probably the 5th or 6th undergraduate to attend Tulane."

I immediately had aliking for that young boy. I told myself that he would be successful. He was an intelligent boy, really a brilliant one. So I followed him for weeks.

Then that fateful day of April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis and the city was stunned like most of the nation. The threat of blacks going on a rampage were predicted by the media. There was a tremendous amount of anger expressed by leaders in the black community. I remember that young black boy with beautiful eyes recognizing that fact that if you were black, you needed to put some type of sign on your house so that the predicted rampaging crowds of angry black people wouldn't attack you and burn your house. The threat and outrage seemed real, but his father told him that he wasn't putting anything on his house, and we would deal with anybody who tried to attack their family or their property.

Thank God, the threats of mass attacks and destruction did not materialize in New Orleans, as black leaders and clergymen made a plea for order and control. The impact of Dr. King's actions in the garbage strike and his assassination -- as a result of his presence in Memphis to support the striking workers -- was not as apparent in New orleans as it obviously was in Memphis at the time.There was no mass demonstrations or violence in new orleans or at Tulane University or any other university that caused cancellations of classes.

Since there were no apparent violence in New Orleans, I decided to wait for the first Mardi Gras parade as I got fascinated with Bacchus. Who was Bacchus? Well, in Greek mythology, Bacchus was the god of wine and vegetation. He showed mortals how to cultivate grapevines and make wine.

As the son of Zeus, Bacchus was usually characterized in one of two ways:

First, as the god of vegetation specifically of the fruit of the trees. Eventually, he became the popular Greek god of wine and cheer, and wine miracles were reputedly performed at certain of his festivals. According to tradition, Bacchus died each winter and was reborn in the spring. To his followers, this cyclical revival, accompanied by the seasonal renewal of the fruits of the earth, embodied the promise of the resurrection of the dead.

The yearly rites in honor of the resurrection of Bacchus gradually evolved into the structured form of the Greek drama, and important festivals were held in honor of the god, during which great dramatic competitions were conducted.

And so I waited for almost a year . Finally on Sunday, February 16, 1969, the Krewe of Bacchus staged its first Mardi Gras parade. The theme was "The Best Things In Life", and the procession was led by celebrity king Danny Kaye. The 250 member, 15 float entourage took to the streets of New Orleans showering thousands of spectators with over a million strings of beads and 300,000 doubloons. The new parade was a smashing success. I felt so happy.

My happiness was complete. I experienced the best in my lifetime. Then I remembered something, a promise. I made a promise, I know. Oh, that girl in red. I felt a little pain in my heart. She was in pain, I knew it. I need to see her soon. I should say good bye to the memories of my love and my fascination for Bacchus.