Flame dancing

Flaming passions
From all the comments, I haven't done a good job of filling in all the details of Mardi Gras. Partly because that is a big task. I did talk about why Mardi Gras falls when it does back in this post:

Purple, Green and Gold fever is sprouting

But, maybe I will take a couple of post to flesh this out. First though, today's post -- the flambeaux carriers. (flambeaux is French so the accent is on the beaux). Back before there were lights on the Mardi Gras floats, flambeaux's were it, except for an occasional street light. Back then they were fueled by a can of kerosene on top that would flow down to the burners to make light. Very dangerous.

Now they use propane cylinders - a lot safer. And the flambeaux's don't march next to the floats. Still, the wildness and fever of the flambeaux's -- the dancing, the spontaneity, the flaming colors -- all add to the excitement of the parade. Of course, the dancing, the gyrating flames and the dark, all make the scene hard to shoot -- you have to shoot the feeling, not the facts.

--steve buser

Lagniappe

I am convinced.
Totally, irrevocably.
You can't change my mind.
I believe that the sky likes to find things to build a sunset around. Hop over the Pixel Eyed today and see what I mean.