Crowds and organizations spend their time perfecting their public presentation of unified drunkenness in New Orlean's annual Mardi Gras. A parade and celebration of self-expression and embracing one's true self, the Mardi Gras is a parade of humanity -- and these includes the world's newest supernerds. Meet the Krewe of Chewbacchus, a spin-off of the Krewe of Bacchus liquor-oriented group but with nerds and pop sci-fi culture embedded in them.
In their official website, the Krewe -- a group of people who throw a parade during Mardi Gras -- describes itself in full as The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus. They focus on "revelrous Star Wars Freaks, Trekkies (Star Trek Fans), Whovians (Doctor Who Fans)" and other general categories of interest including "Mega Geeks," "Circuit Benders," and even "UFO Conspiracy Theorists."
Matador Network contributor Matt Hershberger writes that he was in the area when the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade began. The 2010-formed Krewe Of Chewbacchus began their parade. In Hershberger's posts is an embedded Instagram photo of a "Wookie" from Star Wars named "Chewbecky," a wordplay to focus on the female Wookie."
This year, singing Leia Organa cosplayers and David Bowie cosplayers have paraded with the Krewe. According to Hershberger, Krewe members, asked to pay for a $42 membership fee per year, are called BacchanAliens. All members are also urged to use "electric-powered" floats or at least something man-powered.
The Krewe has become famous in Mardi Gras because of its members' elaborate costumes and recreations of famous scenes. Some of its members take a comedic approach to cosplaying during parades. Recently, in league with the idea of the inclusion of all genders, it created a fictional protest called "the Mystik Krewe of PUEWC," which stands for "People for the inclusion of Unicorns, Elves and Winebots in Chewbacchus" allowing the Krewe to successfully include all aspects of nerdom including unicorns and other fantasy medieval characters.
Mardi Gras is a parade of self-expression and it never disappoints indeed. When in New Orleans, after eating their world-famous Beignets (which in itself has a great history), stop by early and see the parade of Chewbacchus along with other inebriated groups gathered together celebrating their freedom of expression.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
