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Making Faces Georgie Manuel's Mardi Gras masks and costumes give their wearers complete anonymity
Georgie
Manuel's Mardi Gras masks are so effective her son didn't recognize his own sister behind
one of them. But looking at the masks, you would never believe they could hide someone's
identity. The replicas of traditional, turn of the century Mardi Gras masks are made
from window screen and wearers can see clearly through the thin wire mesh. Yet with just a
little bit of strategically placed paint, no one can see in. Manuel and her husband Allen have been making masks for 25 years. His parents taught them to make the masks, and Manuel learned from her grandmother to make the costumes. Each mask takes about three hours, and the Manuels create 100 to 150 each year. Like most Louisiana crafts, the masks and costumes are steeped in tradition. Historians say the colorful costumes and tall, pointed hats come from medieval times. Manuel bases her designs on turn of the century drawings and actual masks from the 1940s, and takes pride in the authenticity. In 1988, the Louisiana Crafts Program, which registers crafts such as basket-making, soap-making and broom-making, added the Manuels' masks to its registry. Various museums around the state also display the couple's hand-molded, hand-painted and hand-sewn treasures. But for Georgie Manuel, the most pleasing place to see her masks is on the faces of many of the more than 700 people who run in the Eunice Mardi Gras. After dressing as a Mardi Gras for most of her adult life, Manuel knows that the secrecy of the masks allow the wearers to have more fun. "The anonymity provided by a mask and a costume releases inhibitions you didn't know you had. You can cut up as much as you want." -Angie Delcambre our menu - entertainment - functions - group tours - |
And for Manuel, that's the point. "Once you have a costume
on, you're not man or woman, mother or father. You're a Mardi Gras," she says.
A Mardi Gras is a participant in the Courir de Mardi Gras, the pre-Lenten celebration that
takes place in the rural prairie region around Manuel's hometown of Eunice. Participants
gather at 5 a.m. on Mardi Gras day and prepare for the run-a 15-mile trek on horseback, in
wagons, in trucks and even on foot-to gather the ingredients to make a gumbo.
The Mardi Gras runners stop along the way to chase chickens, dance and try to guess who's
who. Manuel made many of the masks and costumes, so she has an advantage, if she can
remember who she made them for-a tough task since every one is different. "The
masks evolve as we work on them. So do the costumes. There are no two alike," she
says.