The History of Mardi Gras Beads

During parades in New Orleans, people shriek and yell, pleading for those fun colored glass beads. Bunches of beads are thrown out towards the crowds during big parades, and the more, the merrier. While the excitement grows as these necklaces are being tossed, has anyone ever wondered, where they came from? Where did these Mardi Gras beads that America has come to love, originate from?

According to an informational article from Slate.com, the celebration of Mardi Gras beads records all the way back to the 1840's. These beads were thrown out as souvenirs to awaiting crowds. The people in these parades dressed as high-class aristocrats and tossed beads and sugar coated almonds. It is believed that the "throwing of the beads" was from the festival customs from the English Renaissance era.

Although, the strung necklace was a parade handout in the 1840's, the glass beads didn't actually arrive as a popular staple in New Orleans until the 1880's. In the Slate article, it stated that the first person in a New Orleans parade to use the beads was a man dressed up as Santa Claus. After that first appearance, the beads became an instant hit.

By the year 1900, more than 100,000 tourists traveled to New Orleans for the parade and to witness and be a part of the popular bead tosses.

Today, these beads are used in other different ways as women entice these bead throwers to offer them the necklaces. By using certain advances, women seem to be the popular recipient of these popular colorful chains. Instead of being created with glass, most of the strands today, are designed with cheaper materials that may cause less injury such as plastic and aluminum.

In the few years before 1980, another fun handout joined the toss of Mardi Gras beads for a short term. A group known as "Zulu" handed out coconut to parade goers. The custom had to end though, for fear that these coconuts would be tossed and perhaps injure somebody's head. There was no insurance that would cover the Zulu group. Zulu fought for their group stating that there was no kind of liability that covered the beads, and nobody was kicking them out from the parade. After all of the group's complaints, in 1987, then governor, Edwin Edwards, signed a "coconut bill," stating that coconuts could also be handed out with the beads during Mardi Gras. So the coconut has joined in the big parade of so called "handouts" along with the famous strands of bright colored beads.

If you ever find yourself in a crowd of wild parade goers, begging for these beads, perhaps you could also swipe a piece of history, and remember how these beads originated into the American lands. Maybe you could even say they were a gift from Santa Claus-as he is what inspired us to continue with them in the first place.