Coffee Talk With The Cajun Mamas

Inside The Courir De Mardi Gras: Tradition, Costumes, And Chicken Chases

• Chris Logan Media • Season 3 • Episode 40

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Ever wondered why a captain on horseback waves a flag before a masked crowd sprints across a pasture after a chicken? We pull back the mask on Cajun country’s Courir de Mardi Gras, a living tradition with medieval French roots that still thrives in towns like Church Point, Eunice, and Mamou. This isn’t the spectacle of big-city floats. It’s door-to-door permission, fiddle-fueled dancing, and a community remembering how to feast together before Lent.

We share what makes the run so different: scrap-built costumes with streaming fringe, wire masks that level status, and a playful send-up of royal hats. The captain’s role anchors the day—no entry without the ask, no revelry without the flag. Then comes the lore in motion: begging for rice or meat, retold as a chase for the chicken that once went straight into the gumbo pot. Along the way, each town adds its own cadence, with distinct chants and calls that keep local identity strong within a shared ritual.

You’ll also hear why the children’s run steals the show. Color-coded flags, no alcohol, careful staging, and wide-eyed kids in tiny costumes keep the culture alive with joy and care. As the main parade grows, safety rules evolve—simpler floats, clearer routes—so elders on bus rows and visitors from Canada or Ireland can catch beads and stories in equal measure. Planning a trip? Bring boots, start early, and pace yourself. Whether you stand at the fence line or fall into a line dance, you’ll leave with music in your head and a better sense of what community can be when everyone is equal behind a mask.

Love cultural deep dives and small-town traditions with big heart? Follow the show, share this episode with a friend who needs a road trip idea, and leave a quick review so more folks can find us.

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Cold Open: The Chicken Joke

SPEAKER_01

Chicken. I would imagine it went sit down something like this. You know, can we please have a chicken, sir? Well, if you can catch it, you can have it. And then, you know, so and then that's it. You know, it was hilarious of it. I bet it's still funny what happened today.

SPEAKER_02

What do I give to be a fly on the wall like the first Morty girl on ever?

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's dive into real conversations about life, motherhood, and a little inspiration to brighten your day.

SPEAKER_01

Welcome back to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. Today we're talking about something that's just so special to us and such a magical time of year.

SPEAKER_02

A magical time of year. Oh, I tell you what, it's something. We're talking about the history of Mordi Girl. Our specific Courier de Mortigiral. Yes. It's something special to this area. And not all of Louisiana does it. I know. So we are going to get into the details of that because we get asked a lot about it. Yeah. What's all that about?

Sponsor: Hal The Cajun Lady

SPEAKER_01

What is all that about? Yeah. So we'll give you a little history. We're not historians or experts by any means, but we do know a few of the stories and traditions that uh are behind it. So, first though, we're going to thank our friend, how the Cajun Lady Accent. She is our grand sponsor, our official sponsor for this month. And she has a whole line of Cajun seasonings, y'all. If you don't already know, this lady knows how to cook. Okay. If you're not following her on social media, you're missing out. She's on all the platforms too. YouTube, uh, Snapchat, Filter, TikTok. What is a filter? I don't know. It just came out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_02

We're making a new one. Maybe we're making a new one.

SPEAKER_01

No more to keep up with the platform called Filter. Filter by the Cajun Moments. Hey, maybe so. Anyway, she's on everything. So go look her up. How the Cajun Lady Accent. I'm pretty sure is her handle for everything. Yeah, that's how I'll find her. Yes. Um, so anyway, go look and see. She's got so many recipe videos, y'all. It's gonna make your mouth water. And most all of them involve her all-purpose seasonings. So how the Cajun LadyAccent.com is where you can check out everything she has to offer. Um, our personal favorites um are those dip mixes that she she has. Listen, if you need something real easy to throw together for a little party or an event, get a get a dip mix, okay? It's what sour cream and mayonnaise most of the time is all you need.

SPEAKER_02

And you know what? Don't even like sometimes when you make like chicken tenders or you buy a little tinder from the store to bring to the function, make that dip. Everybody's gonna be like, oh man, they made that at uh no, that's all the Cajun Lady accent, okay? Yes. Or if you just don't want another bland uh grilled chicken night, whip you up some of that dip. That will make you happy real quick.

What Courir De Mardi Gras Is

SPEAKER_01

That's true. It don't even have it don't have to be just for chips. You can dip all kind of things in that. Oh, just keep on dipping. When I dip you, dip, we dip. That's right. All the way. Okay, anyway. Thank you, Hal, for being our uh official sponsor for this month. And uh we love you. And go to how the Cajun Ladyaccent.com and you will love her too. You will, you will. Okay, so where should we start?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. I mean, okay, so Church Point is where we're from. Um, ever since I was little, I remember always participating in this Morty Girl. Not as a child, but even um when I lived in the country, there were riders that would come to my house and they would come in our yard. It was just like, I think it was like one time. Yeah. And they came and I we might. But you remember that. But I remember that because I was just like, wait, what is going on? What's happening? Now, as a child, did it frighten you a bit? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

I guess when I look back on it, I was like, yeah, what's going on? You know, if you're a kid and you have never seen a fully dressed, masked Morty Girl.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, you just it's a sight to behold. Um, so basically, years and years, this is a 300-year-old tradition. Okay. Starting in in France. Yes. And there would be it, it it Mardi Gras is the day before Lent. Yes. Okay, before Ash Wednesday, and it's the last day for you to celebrate before the solemnity of Lent. Okay? So it has roots in medieval France, this specific type of Mardi Gras. It is not the elaborate uh parade that you're gonna see in New Orleans, although that is really fun. And you know, I imagine I've never been to one.

SPEAKER_01

I'm it is a place for it, you know? Like that, yeah. Those are big cities.

SPEAKER_02

They do the elaborate Mardi Gras. Um, but here the traditional run, um it's it's for the it a lot of the smaller communities here do it. Everyone dresses in the traditional Mardi Gras costumes, which is like fringe, yeah. Uh the copy shown.

SPEAKER_01

We just had Miss Karen from So Wood on our last episode that had that.

SPEAKER_02

Go back and listen to that so you can see what they actually look like. Um, but they wore these to help me out.

Costumes, Masks, And Equality

SPEAKER_01

It's like um well they so it was like uh you wore whatever you had. Uh most most of these people that participated were poor. Okay, so scraps of whatever clothing that you had, you threw something together, and the purpose of the mask was to hide your identity. So like it was a day where everyone was equal. It could be somebody with lots of money, it could be somebody dirt poor. Everybody participated in this fun revelry, and you you everybody was equal. So that I mean that's why the masks are there.

The Captain, Flag, And Chicken Chase

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and and the hats were to make fun of French royal. Yeah, you know, you see them old like the princesses with the tall hats with the little scarf at the edge. That is what the hats are for. And if you and they're fully dressed, even my husband and them, they cover their hands so nobody knows who they are. Because they would go house to house all together, some of them on horseback. Now they ride on a beer wagon and get down, and they jump off and then the per they the copy tent is the person on the horse. Captain. Is the captain he wears a cape and he's got a hat on, and he goes and he asks the homeowner, like you know Is it okay for them to come into onto your property to have the have the fun and and chase the chicken?

SPEAKER_01

And he'll when he waves the flag, all the Mardi Gras runners, they come and they run onto the property and and the fun starts. They start dancing.

SPEAKER_02

There's always always music. There's always music, they dance together, they have fun together, and then uh they throw a chicken or they just you know run after a chicken. Yeah. And so whoever catches the chicken, that is the trophy. That's the prize.

SPEAKER_01

That is the trophy if you catch the chicken. Um, and why why a chicken? Like, I know some people's like, poor chicken, and I feel, oh y'all, it took me a few years to be like, oh, I guess you get kind of desensitized to it, which is probably not a good thing. Those poor chickens go through hell that day, I'm not gonna lie. But but back in the day, that's part of it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, back in the day they would catch a chicken because they went on the property to ask for food. For food. They were begging for they were begging for rice, they were begging for uh meat, chicken, whatever they had, to be able to um provide the community with a with a meal to have a feast before Lent started because not everybody could afford it. So they go onto the property and beg, you know, and they put on a show for the whole time, exactly.

SPEAKER_01

And so that but the chicken I would imagine it went sit down something like this. You know, can we please have a chicken, sir? Well, if you can catch it, you can have it. And then, you know, so and then that's it. You know, it was hilarious of it. I bet. But it's still funny to watch today.

Begging Tradition And Community Feast

SPEAKER_02

What I'd give to be a fly on the wall as the first Morty girl on ever. But y'all, it's so um, it's so much fun. It's so, so steeped in culture. And it just the music, the dancing, the the get ups, everything. Um, but everybody's equal behind the mask. Yeah. Um, and it just it it's sim it just has a good symbolization in our community, I feel like. Now, it says some small towns that hit still hold traditions. That's us. Yeah. We definitely still have the original uh Corilla de Mordi Girl, Eunice, Mamu, Timamu, Iota, Basil. Those each one has their own different spin on it. Um, not mostly the same, but their chants, I don't know. I is it it's not a chant. What is it called?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, uh, oh, I know what you're talking about, but I don't know what to call it. Like uh like theme music.

SPEAKER_02

They holler, they holler and they all say something different, you know. Like some they beg for coins, and some of them, you know, I don't know what it's like a chant. They all like all the Marty girls come together and somebody hollers out in French what it is.

SPEAKER_01

And then they start chanting. Yeah, and they all you're right. I never thought about that. They all say different. Yeah, because my deal's different.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. And it's I like theirs because it's like it it's got a little ring to it. But then Mamu is different, Church Point is different, uh, Malfacteur has their own. So um, but there it's just so much fun to see. It's so much fun to be a part of. And y'all, we have people all over the world that that come to our Morty Girl.

SPEAKER_01

You're right. We have a day before the big day, I call it. So our our Church Point Morty Girl is the weekend before Fat Tuesday, the weekend before Morty Girl. Always on the Sunday, always on the Sunday. But that they have a children's version on the Saturday before. That's fun. And that is so fun, and it's so family friendly. Like, there's no even you there's no alcohol even for that. Um now the next day you get what you get. You get what you want.

Towns And Their Unique Chants

SPEAKER_02

Get yourself a baby see it. And go enjoy the city.

SPEAKER_01

They get a little wild. But um, the the children's run has become one of my favorite days because just the atmosphere is so everything is so cute. You see all the kids running around in their costumes and they're chasing the chicken and dancing to the traditional music, and the culture and the tradition is gonna live on through that generation. Because they coming up and coming up, and more people will. Our children's gets uh run gets bigger every year.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, and that y'all are a big part of that because I know uh Nathan's a part of the saddle tramp. And so there he's always out there, you know, making sure everything stays kind of organized because if you can imagine chickens running loose, can you imagine hundreds of children? Hundreds of children, and how they set it up is by age, yeah. So I don't know the exact ages, but littles at one flag, yeah, you know, and one colored flag.

SPEAKER_01

I think it goes up to 14, like two years, two or three years old. If they some of them are like just running good, you know, like so they must be three or four, I feel like.

SPEAKER_02

I think with Roz this year. We'll see how she does. But um, we'll see. Um, but the lit they all get like by their age and then they go with their little wristband, whatever color it is, that's the flag they go to, and then they throw the chickens one at a time at each flag so there's not all kind of craziness going on. Um, and then they'll throw a couple of chickens at that flag, and a couple of little children will catch them, and yeah, it's it's it's something to see, it's really fun, so family. And um, I don't know. It and then we ride the parade through town and the cooler.

Children’s Run And Family Focus

SPEAKER_01

There is a parade on the back end of it, and like the the uh career the mortigal the next day for the adults. Um there is a procession, like a parade that we we follow them all through the country, and then we pass through town for a parade that lasts about a about an hour, I guess. I don't know, but yeah. Um we've had it's gotten so big over the years, like we've had to cut it back and like do limits on you know floats. People were getting a little crazy and falling off and stuff, so like there's no double decker floats and all that anymore. Like it it's a it's a time, y'all. It's really a time. It's a time.

SPEAKER_02

And then after the day is over, Nathan Melancin starts the countdown for the next Morty Girl. It's like sometimes that afternoon the countdown is on for next Morty Girl.

SPEAKER_01

And and if it's less than 365 days, we excited. Like, oh, it's we don't even have to wait a full year.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. I know isn't that crazy? Okay, so I think I know where you were going. Okay, but we were talking about how people all over the world come to our Morty Girl. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, okay, so yes, we are it thank you. We are in the pr in the parade procession and what whatnot. And so I get to see people lined up on the sides of the road all throughout the the run in the country, countryside. And there will be signs, they'll hold up. I'm from Canada, I'm from Ireland, I'm from Miss Minnesota, wherever I've seen far away. And listen, if you coming in from out of town, get you do a sign because I always throw the good beads to those that come from far away.

SPEAKER_02

You come that far. Yes, you deserve yes, and they'll be in a link, maybe.

SPEAKER_01

I'll throw you a hot piece of boot in. Um, there's always um, and this is one particular turn, and I always look for them. It's a bus full of like elderly people. And I mean, but they're not old. They're not they might their age might be up there, but they are young at heart and they are having the best time catching those bees.

SPEAKER_02

That's where I want to be.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. It I always look at it. That's who I want to be.

SPEAKER_02

I want to be those people. I don't want to be stuck at home. I want to be out there seeing what they got.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so it's just a really great, fun time. Um, and you can bring the kids, like it's it is what you make it. They I'm not I mean, people do get silly sometimes, but if you with it's it's all about who you with too, you know, like we with a good group of people, and you can go watch the craziness without being crazy yourself if that's what you want. But like it it's very entertaining to say that.

The Parade, Safety, And Growth

SPEAKER_02

I've been to that one. Now we we do we stay at my mama's house and we cook a gumbo and we just have a little our people come over and we we but we have all the kids and you know, so yeah, it's it looks different now. It looks different, but it's still so much fun. You know, we dance on the side of the street, and you know, the kids are they they dance in the street doing the line dances with all the other kids, and it's just it's a day that we all get together and we celebrate before Lent and it is yeah, it's it's one of our favorite days of the year for sure.

SPEAKER_01

If you want to get a good visual of like what happens, I know there's a lot, they have made documentaries on this. They've made uh there's probably thousands of YouTube videos and reels and stuff. Just go search up Cajun Mardi Gras or Career de Mardi Gras. You'd have to I'll have to spell it for you, but um, it means the Mardi Gras run in French. But uh you can even just look up Church Point Mardi Gras or Mamu Mardi Gras uh and you will find a lot of videos and stuff that highlight like what goes on and you can see if it's for you, you know, if you want to make the trip.

SPEAKER_02

Make the trip, find out what it's about. Somebody was asking me, and she was like, Oh, that's too early to be up chasing a chicken, and I'm like, Oh, it's early. Yeah, it's a long day. Uh-huh. That that parade needs to come through by one, so it's a it's a but you know, like over the years you learn to pace yourself.

SPEAKER_01

Um you got to pace yourself. You can't start to getting too crazy early in the morning, but by two or three in the afternoon, it's all done, and you can go home and take your little nap. You can sleep the night away. That's what I do. Like, time to go home. Done with that. Uh well, I hope that gave y'all a brief, a very brief, but uh look at the traditions and stuff behind this crazy thing that we love so much around here. I mean, we just as Cajuns, we look for any excuse to have a good time and to get together. And drink a beer.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. A five.

SPEAKER_01

Or yeah, you know, one Marty Girl five or six probably.

Visitors From Around The World

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. But it's it's always fun. And uh I especially love that we can include the kids as for the the kids run to. Yep. So it's fun for the whole family. It's definitely something you should check out before, you know, it should be on your bucket list.

SPEAKER_01

At least once in your life, it should be on your bucket list to come experience that.

SPEAKER_02

But I'm partial.

SPEAKER_01

We are very partial.

SPEAKER_02

Anyway, um, thank you again to Hal the Cajun Lady Accent for um being our sponsor this month. Um, this is a great month to be a sponsor, Hal, because we know you have a Mordi Gras dip that is out of this world, and I love to bring it before we go to the ball. You know, there's a little dip on the snacking on that, a snack on that before we go to the ball. Um, she's got dip mixes, she's got liquid butter, Cajun fry batter, uh, she's got cracker mixes, she's got chili mix. Oh, yeah, and spaghetti. And spaghetti. Yeah, so good. Um, all her seasonings are low in sodium and MSG free. Y'all go and get y'all some at how the Cajun LadyAccent.com and make sure you're following her on all the social medias.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, because you'll be able to have some good recipe ideas to use your new seasonings with. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Hal. We love you. See y'all next time.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks for joining us on Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. We hope you enjoyed your cup of coffee and our chat. Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. Until next time, keep the coffee brewing and the conversation flowing.