International House Hotel celebrates the opulent origins of Carnival, cocktail in hand New Orleans - February 2018 February 1 - 12, 2018 5-6p daily
International House Hotel celebrates the opulent origins of Carnival, cocktail in hand New Orleans - February 2018 February 1 - 12, 2018 5-6p daily On Mardi Gras morning 1857, “The Mistick Krewe of Comus introduced spectacle to the streets of New Orleans, and Carnival was forever changed,” writes revered Carnival historian, Henri Schindler. For the next 100 years - the Golden Age of Carnival - New Orleans lived the fullest expression of its sensual self, manifest in a glorious array of opulent costumes, intricate graphic art, and fantastical pageantry created by hundreds of prolific theater artists.
Yet, when most people think of Carnival today, they see purple, green and gold mylar, blinking beads and flowing kegs of beer – it’s the most misunderstood of the many distinctive traditions celebrated in New Orleans. The locally-owned, art-centric boutique-hotel, International House, however, celebrates this annualritual with a breathtakingly original, culturally rich and historically significant story from the Golden Age. In the two weeks leading into Mardi Gras day, February 13, the hotel lobby is adorned with 21 brilliant watercolors depicting fantastical, larger-than-life characters from Carnival 1896. The legendary images are from Bonnecaze’s irreverent “Dumb Society” parade that same year and pay tribute to her, the first woman to design carnival costumes and floats for Mardi Gras. She did so with great artistic and satirical flair.
Displayed above the entrance to the hotel’s magnetic bar, Loa, is Bonnecaze's comically titled “Five O’Clock Tea” painting, in which she pokes fun at affected custom. The painting is also the inspiration behind Loa's most enchanted tea party - a must-see late afternoon fête theatrically served by costumed creatures from February 1 - 12, 2018, 5:00-6:00 pm each day, complete with make-believe animal noses and tasty rum-tea punch.
In deed and in word, "Spirit Handler" Alan Walter has found a way to pour all the fantastical pageantry of the Golden Age of Carnival into the depths of a teacup: "My 'Five O'Clock Tea' honors Bonnecaze and her pricelessly witty animal-people creations. This libation nods to that magical era, and our "older sister,” Venice, while still hailing clearly from this city. It’s an extravagant taste of place worthy of a Queen, yet suitable for a jackass, dragonfly or grub worm - any of the hysterical satirical figures in her Dumb Society. Such are the demands of Carnival!" Walter's tea, matching the wit of the watercolors, is composed of Aperol, Mate Tea, Ojen, Local Citrus Oleo Saccharum, Sorrento Lemon from the bar’s grove, and Prosecco.
To this chimerical menagerie Walter brings a lithesome she-wolf named Lupa. Adopting a 300-year-old recipe that proceeded this city’s brunch staple, the Brandy Milk Punch, his signature Carnival libation offers a crystal-clear glimpse of the cocktail’s genesis in ancient fertility rites called the Lupercalia, a pastoral festival celebrating the coming of Spring.
It’s the sort of whimsical Pagan ritual that might stir the imagination of a Golden Age designer, like Bonnecaze. Oh, and perhaps inspire a watercolor of the Ancient Roman legend – two babies, Romulus and Remus, were thrown into the River Tiber, before being snagged ashore by the roots of a fig tree at the foot of a cave, where they were discovered and raised by the she wolf, Lupa. Says Walter, “The Lupercalian rites - involving the sacrifice of a goat, cross-dressing, and public flagellation – are as old as sin, and pretty much the same stuff you see today if you venture far enough up Bourbon on Fat Tuesday.”
Caught up in the mylar, blinking beads and cheaper thrills of Mardi Gras in our own Instagram era, we can each do well to remember where it all really comes from - the sacred intention and the season’s whimsy behind the lavish spectacle. Adds Walter, “We belong to a city dedicated most unusually to the sheer celebration of life’s joys, and this drink captures our joie-de-vivre with an extravagant taste of this place, one that keeps us connected to the peoples and distant places that still flavor this city’s culture.”
Lupa, the She Wolf – Groult Calvados infused with Calimyrna and Kalamata Figs and Sorrento Lemon Zest, clarified with local goat’s milk. $15.
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