Ten Reasons to Travel to New Orleans for the Joan of Arc Parade

We asked Amy Kirk-Duvoisin, founder of the Joan of Arc parade, why she thinks people should come to New Orleans on January 6^th for this unique event. She gave us 10 reasons:

1. This is a cultural event. Culturally minded, cultural and historical experience seeking tourists who are interested in the French heritage and history of New Orleans will find the parade especially appealing as we celebrate the patron saint of France!  It is NOT a religious event, although it has religious vibes and sentiments (she is a Saint!). In France, they refer to her simply as Jeanne d’Arc--she is as much a secular war hero as she is a Catholic saint; she saved France from the English, and they are forever grateful!  For New Orleanians, the parade is a perfect blending of our sacred and secular selves, like much of Mardi Gras.
2. This is a family friendly event.  The entire beginning of the parade is filled with families walking in our Domremy section representing Joan of Arc’s childhood and all along the route are families enjoying the pageantry, puppets, and music. It’s a short parade compared to big Mardi Gras parades, so you can watch the entire parade go by in 30 minutes total. Given that Joan died at 19, her story is about her adolescent adventures from hearing her voices at 13, leaving home at 16, to fighting then going on trial at 19 (we’ll skip the burning at the stake part but that is handled well in the parade with some drumming and a woman dressed in a glowing gown). The story is interesting to youth and especially young women. To see a girl in person in armor on a horse in the French Quarter, dressed as Joan of Arc, is quite an experience for toddlers, tweens and teens!! The throws range from swords to necklaces, and the large-scale puppets of dragons, butterflies, and more, all make it appealing to kids. Since it is a walking procession, families can interact with the parade participants directly. This is of high interest for families with kids in immersion schools who want to practice their French! A new aspect of the parade in recent years has been people shouting and conversing in French with parade walkers. Not all of us speak French, but many do, so that’s added an engaging educational and eclectic layer to the overall experience!
   
   
3. This event marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the Mardi Gras season. New Orleans has always acknowledged Twelfth Night, but only after the Joan of Arc parade became more popular, did both locals and tourists make it a bigger deal. Now there are a few different parades (beyond the longtime Phunny Phorty Phellows) that visitors can experience on this significant night. Christmas New Orleans Style began to include the parade as its culminating calendar item starting in 2012, and while the media loves to call it the “start of Mardi Gras” it’s probably more accurate to say it’s the “culminating of Christmastime in New Orleans.”  People visiting will still experience the holiday decorations up everywhere, including in St. Louis Cathedral. It’s the Epiphany, y’all!  
   
   
4. It’s Mardi Gras without the traffic, crowds, and chaos.  This is a small walking procession that is big enough (with about 450 participants, depending on musician and group numbers for certain sections) to feel like a big experience, but small enough to manage in terms of crowds, parking, walking, and watching.  You get the pageantry of Mardi Gras, you do get some throws, and you get to see some of the signature dance groups that walk in other parades, although they walk with us in medieval style dress:  Chorus Girls, Krewe de Fleurs, Muffalettas, all walk with us.  And—we have a brass band that leads us!  Soul Heirs Brass Band is decked out in medieval clothing, playing everything from “When the Saints Go Marching In” to medieval type music, as medieval as you can get with a New Orleans style brass band. It’s a taste of Mardi Gras.
   
   
5. We have members and volunteers from around the country who come here in January just for this.  We have about 30 members total who come in from California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio, New Mexico, and Texas. A few of these folks are native New Orleanians who moved away; but the others are just coming for the parade and then they stay and enjoy the city during this tourist “down time."  We know of at least two people who moved to NOLA as a result of coming down and being in the parade each year. We’ve also arranged for volunteer groups to come down and walk with us, carrying banners and more, so that is an option we can arrange—we accept volunteers signing up through December 1^st. Some travel down by January 1^st to participate in our New Year’s Day workshop and gathering, where most pick up their costumes; but some volunteers arrive January 5 and get their costumes the day prior or on site at parade line up (monk robes, etc). We provide volunteers with costumes so it’s very easy for them!
6. This is creative New Orleans at its best and an unusual immersive artistic experience like no other.  New Orleans is a very creative town, but the emphasis is often on the music and food.  There are SO MANY working artists here and our “Army of Artists” is a fantastic showcase of our local visual artists, hobby craftsmen (who create jewelry to hand out, carve wooden wagons to pull, carve wooden swords to hand out), dancers, musicians, costume designers, and theatre artists. It is street theater! And you’ll be handed locally made artwork (in the form of our throws) to take home!!!
   
   
7. This is an international event and gathering.  In 2018, the City of New Orleans signed a sister city agreement with Orleans, France—in part because of our mutual connection and celebrations of Joan of Arc.  The Mayor of Orleans came to sign the agreement with Mitch Landrieu in early January, to kick off our Tricentennial and to walk in our parade! The agreement was signed on Joan of Arc’s birthday on January 6, 2018, and a contingent from the City of Orleans, including their Mayor Olivier Carre, walked with us.  He then invited us to walk in their 600+ year old Jeanne d’Arc Parade, held each May 8 in Orleans, France, to celebrate Joan’s lifting of the “Siege of Orleans” and the beginning of the end of the Hundred Years War.  Now, we have an exchange thanks to our local Rotary Club, whereby the Orleans and the New Orleans Rotary Clubs send the Joans of  Arc from each city to the other. This relationship continues to grow, and there are Orleans officials as well as citizens who now come to New Orleans several times a year, including the parade time, to experience our city.  
   
   
8. It’s a safe evening in the French Quarter.  The parade brings the French Quarter to light in a very sweet, spiritual, sentimental and historic way that feels authentic and welcoming. It is a wonderful and magical way for visitors to experience our French Quarter and fall in love with it. 
   
   
9. Our parade walks past landmark hotels, restaurants, and museums.  Our route is an excellent tour of the Quarter via Chartres Street and includes everything from the Napoleon House to Tableau and Muriel’s, St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and Presbytere, the Joan of Arc statue, Ursulines Convent, the Williams Research Center (HNOC) and more.  
   
   
10. It IS a spiritual experience for those who seek it. Not only is Joan of Arc’s sword blessed at St. Louis Cathedral at the midway point of our parade, but some of our throws include prayer cards (a different krewe member composes the prayer for each new year) and other religious memorabilia. 

Explore more at their website,  Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc.