New Orleans and Mardi Gras

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith
Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Our program this week is about Mardi Gras
and New Orleans.

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VOICE ONE:

Wild celebrations of Mardi Gras come just before the start of
Lent. Lent is the Christian observance leading up to the Easter
holiday. It is a serious, spiritual time.

The name "Mardi Gras" is French. It means "Fat Tuesday." This
year Fat Tuesday falls on February eighth.

During Mardi Gras, huge crowds fill the streets of New Orleans,
Louisiana, in the southeastern part of the United States. People
come to eat, drink and dance. Police are in the crowds in case
things get too wild.

Many parties and parades have already taken place by the time Fat
Tuesday arrives.

VOICE TWO:

Many social groups hold parades. Some of the huge floats carry up
to two hundred fifty people.

Riders on the parade floats wear
colorful clothes. Bird feathers top hats that stand a meter tall.
Beautiful, and sometimes strange, masks cover the faces of people on
the floats. These people throw cups and necklaces to the crowds of
people who watch the parades. This is a tradition.

Another tradition is to eat "King Cake." This food, similar to a
sweet bread, is served at Mardi Gras parties. Inside one piece is a
small plastic baby. Whoever gets the baby must promise to hold the
next party. (MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Before Europeans arrived, several tribes of American Indians
lived in what is now New Orleans. The city was established in
seventeen eighteen. The Louisiana Territory was a French colony
then. The city was named for the Duke of Orleans, the ruler of
France at that time.

The city lies along the Mississippi River. The river flows past
until it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, one hundred sixty
kilometers away.

VOICE TWO:

New Orleans French Quarter VOA photo - G. Flakus

The first area settled in New
Orleans was the Vieux Carre. This is now commonly called the French
Quarter. After the city was established, roads and simple houses
were built quickly. Government buildings and a church were added
around the Place D'Armes, now called Jackson Square.

Ships brought people from Europe as well as Africa and the
Caribbean. Wealthy businessmen were among the newcomers. So were
exiles, criminals -- and slaves.

The people found wetlands and difficult living conditions. There
were clouds of mosquitoes. The insects bit people and spread yellow
fever.

VOICE ONE:

Survival was a struggle. Settlers had to deal with floods,
diseases and food shortages. But they stayed. And they developed a
society that was almost a copy of French culture.

In seventeen sixty-two, the people of New Orleans discovered that
they no longer lived in a French colony. The French king had given
Louisiana to his cousin, the king of Spain.

Wealthy Spaniards continued the cultural life begun by the
French. French and Spanish families became linked through marriage.
The sons and daughters of these unions became known as Creoles.

VOICE TWO:

A fire in seventeen eighty-eight, and another fire six years
later, left New Orleans in ashes. But the city was rebuilt. Much of
it was rebuilt in the Spanish way. Earthen bricks were covered with
a mixture of lime, sand and water. The new homes had flower gardens
surrounded by walls. They had iron balconies on the upper level.

In eighteen-hundred, France secretly regained control of the
Louisiana Territory. Then, three years later, France sold Louisiana
to the United States. Most people living in New Orleans were not
happy. They considered Americans to be people without culture.

VOICE ONE:

Americans were not welcome in the Vieux Carre. So they built
their own New Orleans north of it. They put large, beautiful homes
in what is now the Garden District.

Over time the older groups began to need the money and business
skills of the Americans. The Americans wanted the warmth and life of
the old city. Both groups were forced to join in a continuing battle
against windstorms, floods and diseases such as yellow fever. Soon
they developed a spirit of unity.

By eighteen forty, New Orleans was the fourth largest city in
America. For a time, it was the richest city in the country. It was
called the "Paris of America."

VOICE TWO:

Rich cotton and sugarcane farmers built huge homes along the
Mississippi River outside New Orleans. They also kept smaller homes
in the city. They stayed there while attending the opera, the
theater and festivals.

The celebration of Mardi Gras became an important social event.
Through the years it got bigger and better. But high-spirited living
ended with the American Civil War in the eighteen sixties. Louisiana
and the other slave-holding states of the South lost the war.
Federal troops from the North occupied New Orleans.

VOICE ONE:

By nineteen hundred, the city was growing again. People from
Ireland, Germany and Italy had arrived. They added their culture,
food and traditions to the already exciting mix.

Engineers made the Mississippi River deeper so bigger ships could
reach the city. New Orleans became a busy port. Engineers also
pumped water out of wetlands. This action denied refuge to
mosquitoes and helped end the threat of deadly yellow fever.

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VOICE TWO:

By government estimates, four hundred sixty-nine thousand people
lived in greater New Orleans as of two thousand three. In the last
national population count, in two thousand, New Orleans was
thirty-first among cities. It lost two-point-five percent of its
population during the nineteen nineties, at a time when rates of
some crimes increased. Officials say people continue to leave the
city. People in New Orleans face a number of problems. There are not
enough jobs. There is not enough money for schools and roads. The
city must also deal with a history of racial divisions. Today two
out of three people in New Orleans are black.

VOICE ONE:

Ray Nagin, an African American, was elected mayor in two thousand
two. He started campaigns to reduce crime in the city and dishonesty
in government. Recently Mister Nagin announced a plan to improve
communities around the city.

The plan is called Neighborhood One. A main aim is to improve
seven neighborhoods where thousands of buildings are in bad
condition. The Neighborhood One plan would replace them with
single-family homes. The city government would carry out the plan
together with private developers. Work would begin in small areas of
three neighborhoods. VOICE TWO:

New Orleans faces many of the modern problems common to big
cities. At the same time, many of its citizens have fought hard to
save the beauty of its past.

The French Quarter is the oldest part of the city. It remains the
heart of New Orleans. And the French Quarter is where some of the
best food -- a mix of French and Caribbean influences -- can be
found.

The central business area has modern office buildings. It also
has one of the biggest indoor sports centers in the world. Almost
one hundred thousand people can watch events inside the Louisiana
Superdome.

And the city has a museum that honors the D-Day invasion in
Europe by Allied forces during World War Two.

VOICE ONE:

In modern New Orleans, old paddle-wheel steamboats still travel
the Mississippi River. And old electric streetcars travel along
Saint Charles Street. They take visitors past the large homes of
early American settlers. Nearby are the modern buildings of two
universities: Tulane and Loyola.

VOICE TWO

In New Orleans, music spills into the streets not just at Mardi
Gras, but throughout the year. New Orleans is known as the
birthplace of jazz. But local sounds also include Cajun and zydeco
music.

On Bourbon Street, the music and the crowds seem like a huge
celebration that never ends. The most traditional old-time jazz is
played at Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. As they say in
New Orleans, it is the kind of jazz that gets your blood moving.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty
Weaver. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another THIS IS
AMERICA in VOA Special English.