Does anyone know what the beaded necklaces from Mardi Gras mean?

[buzzie2]

Hi Everyone

 

I'm really confused about something so I thought maybe someone could explain it to me.

I was talking to a guy the other day that I know likes me. I started talking to him about how my mother and step dad had a blast at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans 3 years ago. I told him that she brought back a whole bunch of coloured beaded necklaces.

Then he said to me "you know what those beaded necklaces mean, don't you'?

I said no, and then his face went beet red and then he said to ask my mother. Then I asked him to tell me what it meant and he was too emberrassed to explain.

So obviously it has something to do with sex because he immediately said "oh I'm not into that'.

I changed the subject but I'm really curious now.

Does anyone know they mean?

[SmallWonder]

Well, typically the floats in the Mardi Gras parade have enourmous quantities of bead necklaces on them, and people on the street watching the parade yell and scream for them, and generally woman who flash their breasts get the most beads of all. Stereotypically, that's who they throw them to.

 

Not that your mom flashed her breasts during the Fat Tuesday parade, but hordes of woman do for beads. You can get them all over the place in that town though, not just at the parade. They're all over the streets just laying there, discarded.

 

I don't know if there is a history to the beads, though....

[Outcast]

You can just buy them, too.

[933KJL]

At any other time on Bourbon Street, women (and men) will flash for beads. They will also just smile and beg. They are a currency in New Orleans.

 

However in Mardi Gras, they are a symbol of good luck ,and yes, those that flash do get more beads, but these crewes (the floats) purchase hundreds of thousands of necklaces and toss them out to everyone along the parade route--kids included.