“I was really surprised,” says Aira Vehaskari, a Finn living in New Orleans, to Yle.
The New Orleans Mardi Gras parade involves almost a hundred groups, which each year choose their own theme.
The second oldest group in the history of the carnival, the Krewe of Proteus, founded in 1882, chose the Finnish national epic Kalevala as its theme this time. The themes are closely guarded secrets and will only be revealed on the day of the parade.
– The themes of the Krewe of Proteus come year after year from literature, traditional stories and mythology, so that’s probably why Kalevala, Vehaskari says by phone from the middle of the carnival.
Vehaskari thinks that the public does not necessarily know about the Finnish Kalevala in the same way as about Greek mythology.
– However, every stage can tell something about a story or a character and people can enjoy visual storytelling.
– An absolutely wonderful whole, Vehaskari enthuses.
Mardi Gras has been celebrated in New Orleans since the 18th century. The carnival season starts with Epiphany and ends on Shrove Tuesday with the Mardi Gras parade before the start of Lent.