 Mistick Krewe of Comus 1898 Invitation | |
| Abbreviation | MKC |
|---|---|
| Named after | Comus |
| Formation | January 4, 1857 |
| Founded at | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Type | Carnival Krewe |
| Location |
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The Mistick Krewe of Comus (MKC), founded in 1856, is the oldest extant New Orleans, Louisiana Carnival Krewe, the longest to continually parade with few interruptions from 1856 to 1991, and continues to hold a tableau ball for its members and guests, to date. Initially its public facade was The Pickwick Club.
Before Comus was organized Carnival celebrations in New Orleans were mostly confined to the Catholic Creole community, parades were irregular and often very informal. Bernard de Marigny changed that in 1833 with the first formally organized New Orleans Carnival parade and tableau ball. It was Comus who in 1856, organized by 6 Protestant Anglo-Americans from the corresponding Uptown Neighborhoods (versus French Creole Vieux Carré), formalized the first continued observance of what we know today as New Orleans Mardi Gras or technically "Carnival" in New Orleans. French Catholics may have been invited thereafter, but sharp racial, ethnic, and class divides of New Orleans make it unlikely until later.
In 1991, the New Orleans City Council passed an ordinance that required social organizations to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licensure.[1][2] The Comus organization (along with Momus and Proteus, other 19th-century Krewes) withdrew from parading rather than racially integrating.