In 1857 when Comus guided his Mystick Krewe spree through the Crescent City, the streets were not yet lighted. Nevertheless, the Krewe had spent a great deal of time, effort, and money staging the parade, and did not want the spectators to miss the grotesque costumes they had imported from Paris. To solve the problem, the Krewe arranged to have men carrying flaming torches. These men are know as Flambeaux (that’s the plural, the singular is Flambeau. The pronunciation of each is identical).

The tradition of Flambeaux walking along side the floats continued over years. Some pictures of late nineteenth century night parades depict a steady stream of Flambeaux lining each side of the Parade its entire length. In the early to mid twentieth century, as electrical light became more commonplace on float (although, electrically lit floats did appear as early as the 1890’s) and street lighting became electrified and brighter, the Flambeaux became unnecessary. As the Flambeaux were no longer required to see the floats, safety concerns moved the Flambeaux from the sides of the floats to the space between floats, as parade elements similar to marching bands. This changed the role of what the Flambeaux do. To make themselves a worthwhile component of a parade they began to imbue a shade of showmanship into the carrying of the flaming sticks.

Many Parades have since abandoned the tradition of having Flambeaux, and the daytime parades never had any need for them, but they do remain in a few. If you’d like to see Flambeaux, head out and catch one of the krewes whose parade contains Flambeaux: Proteus, Hermes, Le Krewe D’Etat, Babylon, and Sparta.