Krewes of Druids and Nyx Parades!

With just Krewes of Druids rolling, Wednesday used to be a quiet kickoff to 7 straight days of parades. Druids is a smaller krewe with less than 200 members, all masked and anonymous. I always enjoy the school bands and adult dance troupes like the Organ Grinders and Crescent City Fae.

Since 2012, the diverse all-female Super Krewe of Nyx has joined the Wednesday festivities hosting literally thousands of riders.

Krewes of Druid & Nyx

Krewe of Druids, founded in 1998, honors the Celtic priests who acted as mediators between people and their gods and nature. The krewe is fairly small and cloaked in secrecy. The first float didn’t pass us until almost 8pm. Kids have school, their parents have work but there were still plenty of families on the route giving it the miles-long-block-party feel I like. By tonight when I dance with the Pussyfooters in Krewe of Muses, the crowds will be thick with out-of-towners. Druids highlights included the Organ Grinders, the Amelia Earhawts and Sophie B. Wright’s marching band.

Krewes of Druid and Nyx

Wednesday night, the final week of Carnival kicked off with the Krewe of Ancient Druids and Krewe of Nyx parades. Last year, we braved freezing rain but the skies were clear for this year’s festivities. Druids may have taken their ribbing of female parades too far with their Louisiana Purchase card (our version of food stamps) float displaying a sign reading, “Preferred Card of all Female Mardi Gras Krewes.” But the parade was fun, traditional and featured fun female dance troupes like Organ Grinders and Amelia Earhawts (who seem to be parading every day!).