As part of a special series for 2022, we’re doing a deep visual dive into fascinating Carnival traditions around the world.

We’ve all seen the sweaty, thrilling, bedazzled New Orleans version of Mardi Gras, but there’s something else going on in Cajun country, in the small towns a few hours west of the Big Easy. There, a kaleidoscopic, bead-free inversion of the Carnival celebration takes center stage. Welcome to Cajun Mardi Gras.

The old story goes that Cajuns are descendants of the French settlers of maritime Canada, expelled in the 1760s following the Seven Years’ War to wander the Earth. They finally came to rest in the rice country of central Louisiana. But true Cajun culture is more like a crazy quilt of historic traditions—French, African, Spanish, Native American, even German and Polish.

The celebrations differ from town to town, but the courir, or “run,” is the highly visible staple of each, one with roots in rural France. Participants wear costumes that follow a basic template: a patchwork of fringed fabric, a conical hat called a capuchon, and a wire mesh mask decorated with a phantasmagoric face. So attired, the revelers, who are themselves called Mardi Gras, travel a circuit of mostly rural roads by wagon or flatbed trailer, or on horse or foot, shepherded by gold-caped capitaines on horseback. Periodically, at prearranged points, the capitaines divert to a farm field or yard to ask permission for his rowdy charges to beg for ingredients for a communal gumbo that, traditionally, at least, was prepared at the end of the day.

In most cases the begging culminates in a chicken chase. Chickens are thrown to the revelers, who then must run them down. All of this is usually fueled by staggering amounts of alcohol and raucous Cajun music, either from a band staged on a wagon or string musicians on foot, or both.

Atlas Obscura spent a day there, just before the long hush of Lent, and brought back these photos of Cajun Mardi Gras.

The conical <em>capuchon</em> hats originated as a way to mock the headwear of noble French women centuries ago.
The conical capuchon hats originated as a way to mock the headwear of noble French women centuries ago.
Local residents supply roosters and hens for the mayhem.
Local residents supply roosters and hens for the mayhem.
The creative costumes might be made of assortments of household or farm trash such as old feed bags, lampshades, bottle caps, and spent shotgun shells.
The creative costumes might be made of assortments of household or farm trash such as old feed bags, lampshades, bottle caps, and spent shotgun shells.
A <em>capitaine</em> holds a hen prior to the tumult.
A capitaine holds a hen prior to the tumult.
A couple of birds managed to find freedom despite the odds.
A couple of birds managed to find freedom despite the odds.
Caught!
Caught!
The next generation of revelers absorbs the liturgy.
The next generation of revelers absorbs the liturgy.
Sometimes the Mardi Gras give a captured chicken a second chance.
Sometimes the Mardi Gras give a captured chicken a second chance.
A courir wouldn’t be complete without music. The Church Point revelers hauled their band along in a wagon with a generator in tow.
A courir wouldn’t be complete without music. The Church Point revelers hauled their band along in a wagon with a generator in tow.
A future reveler clutches a chicken.
A future reveler clutches a chicken.
Revelers also climb every tree they can get into, as well as the occasional roof.
Revelers also climb every tree they can get into, as well as the occasional roof.