With bleary eyes and wobbling gaits, hungover residents of New Toulouse filed into Our Lady of Bourbon Street to celebrate Ash Wednesday.
A Mr. Charles Trudeau, last seen cheering and hanging off the back of a boat in the Krewe du Canard parade with a bottle of bourbon in each hand and someone else’s longjohns tied around his neck like an ascot, stumbled into the historic church wearing clothes that were rather rumpled but at least right-side out and on the correct parts of his body. “I’m giving up alcohol for Lent,” he insisted before taking his place in the pew next to his neighbors.
“The way we do Mardi Gras around here, I’m always relieved when it’s time for fasting and abstinence,” another local chimed in, asking not to be quoted by name as she shielded her bloodshot eyes from the light streaming in through the beautiful stained-glass windows.
The traditional service included the distribution of ashes and the solemn reminder, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Jane Moreaux keeps all four eyes on New Toulouse.