The Order of Myths, founded in 1867, "Mobile's Mardi Gras" (article), Encyclopedia of Alabama, January 2008 (revised 19 January 2010), webpage:
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is the second oldest mystic society to celebrate

Mardi Gras in Mobile Mardi Gras is the annual Carnival celebration in Mobile, Alabama. It is the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States, started by Frenchman Nicholas Langlois in 1703 when Mobile was the capital of Louisiana. Although today New O ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, after the

Striker's Independent Society The Striker's Independent Society (S.I.S.) is the oldest continuously active mystic society in Mobile, Alabama, Mobile, founded in 1843 (during Mobile's first American period), Alabama. Mobile's Mardi Gras history spans over 300 years, as custom ...

. It is the oldest continuously parading mystic society in Mobile. The Order of Myths chose, as its symbolic emblem,

Folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

chasing Death around a broken column of life. During parades, a person dressed in a jester's suit, as Folly, chases a person dressed in a skeleton suit as Death, around a Greek column on the

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

float. At the conclusion of the traditional OOM parade, Death is defeated, and Folly wins the day. The first parading mystic society, the Cowbellion de Rakin Society, formed in 1830-1831, was disbanded in the early 1900s but has since been re-created circa 1990. The oldest known mystic society in the history of Mobile was the ''Boeuf Gras Society'', founded in 1711, but it ceased in 1861, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, as later Mobile was occupied by Union troops and all public activities were heavily restricted.

Notes

{{Reflist Carnival and Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama Cultural institutions in Mobile, Alabama Carnivals 1867 establishments in Alabama

See also

Notes