My social media this Mardi Gras season was swamped with complaints. Many videos on TikTok complained about the lack of throws this season, which made my “For You” page very disappointing. This year, I went to more parades, and for the majority of the parades, I was not concerned with throws. One of my friends caught three Muses shoes, and I caught many little bags of squishy animals in different colors, as well as a wizard hat and a well-designed chalice.
Growing up with Mardi Gras, it was implemented in my brain from early on that you have to work hard for the throws you catch. The more jumping around and screaming I did, the more throws I got. This continues to be the way Mardi Gras works for me, and in my early adulthood I will scream at the top of my lungs for a strand of glass beads.
How many throws I receive at a parade almost always coincides with how energetic and into the parade I am. The Krewe of King Arthur, my favorite parade, threw many items that excited me, such as princess hats, chalices, glass beads, swords, and snacks. I feel we set expectations for what we’re going to receive, but these expectations, in my opinion, must be proportional to the effort we put into it.
This year, I went to Krewe de Vieux with my boyfriend. We were in the front row, eager to catch. The parade was short, but I managed to catch a wide variety of interesting throws that ranged from stickers and beads to raunchy temporary tattoos. A lover of Krewe de Vieux, I was dancing and making conversation with the walking krewes, which earned me throws. My boyfriend was standing behind me for most of it, had his voice at an indoor level, and did not make an effort to stand out in the crowd of screaming people, their hands grasping eagerly for trinkets. As the walking krewes trickled down the route, he began to get increasingly agitated with his loot.
“I’m not catching anything!” he whined. After a few minutes of explaining to him the tried and true Mardi Gras strategy (loud and proud), he put his heart into the parade and received more throws. In my experience, I’ve had a lot of success this way, and the only times I haven’t caught as much was when I wasn’t giving Mardi Gras my all.
Muses is a rough one for me. I’ve never gotten a shoe (their signature throw), and in the two times I’ve been to Muses I’ve left with only a few, sad, strings of beads. That being said, both times I’ve been to Muses I was exhausted, and I wasn’t very excited. I can’t be sad over my little beads, because they’re simply a consequence of my inability to fully participate. As the saying goes, Mardi Gras is a marathon, not a sprint.
This analogy works well for explaining alleged stingy throws policy, as one cannot expect to complete a marathon without putting in the effort necessary from start to end. In other words, if you leave a Mardi Gras parade unsatisfied with your loot, take a look at your level of participation and immersion, before blaming the people throwing for your misfortune.
