The

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

mystic society of Cain's Merry Widows (a women's

mystic society A mystic society is a Mardi Gras social organization in Mobile, Alabama, that presents parades and/or balls for the enjoyment of its members, guests, and the public. The New Orleans Krewe is patterned after Mobile's Mystics."Carnival/Mobile Mardi ...

) was founded in 1974 in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, home of the first Mardi Gras in America (1703). The organization celebrates 50 years in 2024. "History timeline of Mardi Gras" (events), Museum of Mobile, 2007, webpage:
MoM
Each Mardi Gras, The ladies, known variously as "The Merry Widows of Joe Cain", "Joe Cain's Widows", or even just as "The Widows" gather on Joe Cain Day (the Sunday before Fat Tuesday), clothed in black

mourning clothes Mourning is the emotional expression in response to a major life event causing grief, especially loss. It typically occurs as a result of someone's death, especially a loved one. The word is used to describe a complex of behaviors in which t ...

with veils, to lay a wreath at Cain's burial site at Church Street Graveyard, wail over their "departed husband's" grave, then travel to Joe Cain's former house on Augusta Street to offer a toast and eulogy to their "Beloved Joe". The

Huntsville Huntsville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the 100th-most populous city in the U.S. The Huntsville metropolitan area had an estimated 525,465 ...

-based band, The Pine Hill Haints, perform a song titled "The Merry Widows of Joe Cain" which, in its lyrics, pays homage to

Joe Cain Joseph Stillwell Cain Jr. (October 10, 1832 – April 17, 1904) was an American Confederate States of America, Confederate military veteran largely credited with initiating the modern way of observing Mardi Gras and its celebrations in Mobil ...

tradition, and the city of Mobile itself. The band also makes it a yearly tradition to perform in Mobile each Joe Cain Day.

References

{{reflist

External links

Cain's Merry Widows

Museum of Mobile, history timeline of Mardi Gras

Mobile Chamber of Commerce, on Mardi Gras events (PDF file)
Mardi Gras Carnival and Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama

See also

References

External links