Archive for March, 2011

Proteus had some of the most beautiful floats last year, my Float of the Year 2010 was this Proteus float:

2010 Proteus Fish Float

KREWE OF PROTEUS

Proteus is the Second oldest Parade at New Orleans Mardi Gras. Founded in 1882, Proteus (“PROH tee us”) The shepherd of the Oceans, is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer the Old Man of the Sea has always held elaborate masked Tableau Balls and the most beautiful Street Parade to date.

in 1893 the Krewe first introduced the tradition of call outs, Where masked costumed Krewe members invited ladies in attendance to step out on the dance floor with them. This custom was then adopted by many other Krewes including Rex.

The Identity of the King of Proteus is never revealed to the public. His Parade float is a giant Seashell and very march part of the New Orleans Carnival scene for generations.

Proteus did not parade from 1993 – 1999 but returned to parading on Lundi Gras (The Monday before Mardi Gras Day, Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday) in 2000. The Parade of The Krewe of Proteus Follows the Traditional Uptown or St. Charles Route ending on Canal Street. The actual Krewe of Proteus parade floats are still using the original chassis from the early 1880’s.

The Mythical Proteus

The son of Poseidon in the Olympian theology ( Homer,Odyssey iv. 432), or of Nereus and Doris, or of Oceanus and a Naiad, and was made the herdsman of Poseidon’s seals, the great bull seal at the center of the harem. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme familiar from several cultures, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of “versatile”, “mutable”, “capable of assuming many forms”: “Protean” has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability.

Proteus is also known as a shape shifter and can assume the guise of anyone or anything he so chooses. When held fast despite his struggles, he will assume his usual form of an old man and tell the future.

The so-called Old Man of the Sea, is a prophetic sea divinity, son of either Poseidon or Oceanus. He usually stays on the Island of Pharos, near Egypt, where he herds the seals of Poseidon. He will foretell the future to those who can seize him, but when caught he rapidly assumes all possible varying forms to avoid prophesying.

Proteus [PROH-tee-us], like all six of Neptune’s newly discovered small satellites, is one of the darkest objects in the solar system — “as dark as soot” is not too strong of a description. Discovered by Stephen Synnott, Like Saturn’s satellite, Phoebe, it reflects only 6 percent of the sunlight that strikes it. Proteus is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter, larger than Nereid. It wasn’t discovered from Earth because it is so close to Neptune that it is lost in the glare of reflected sunlight. Proteus circles Neptune at a distance of about 92,800 kilometers (57,700 miles) above the cloud tops, and completes one orbit in 26 hours, 54 minutes. Scientists say it is about as large as a satellite can be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its own gravity. Proteus is irregularly shaped and shows no sign of any geological modification. It circles the planet in the same direction as Neptune rotates, and remains close to Neptune’s equatorial plane

Orpheus is a Super Krewe founded by Harry Connick, Jr. They have Celebrity Monarchs-

Celebrity monarchs

• 2010: Steve Zahn, Sean Payton, Imagination Movers, Paul Mainieri
• 2009: Joan Rivers, James Belushi, Reno 911!
• 2008: Hélio Castroneves, Sidney Torres, Lance Bass, Kevin Meaney, Salt-n-Pepa, Christian LeBlanc, Ricky Paull Goldin, Sean Payton, Josh Gracin
• 2007: Patricia Clarkson, Sean Payton, Harry Connick, Jr.
• 2006: Steven Seagal, Josh Hartnett
• 2005: Sawyer Brown, Toby Keith
• 2004 Dominic Monaghan, Brad Paisley, Nicole Miller, Harry Connick, Jr. ^[9]
• 2003 Travis Tritt, Harry Connick, Jr.
• 2002
• 2001 Glenn Close (grand marshall), Whoopi Goldberg, Hoda Kotb, Harry Connick, Jr. ^[12]
• 2000 Whoopi Goldberg (grand marshall),
• 1999 Sandra Bullock, Forest Whitaker,
• 1998
• 1997 Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Anne Rice, Harry Connick, Jr.
• 1996 The Road Rules gang from MTV, Laurence Fishburne, Jay Thomas (’96 King of Orpheus), Anne Rice (’96 muse of Orpheus), Harry Connick, Jr.
• 1995 Anne Rice
• 1994 Little Richard, Branford Marsalis, Vanessa R. Williams, Dan Aykroyd, Harry Connick, Jr.

Other celebrity monarchs for the Krewe of Orpheus include Camryn Manheim, Debbie Allen, Tommy Tune, James Brown, David Copperfield, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Josh Gracin and Christian LeBlanc.

joker float krewe Orpheus