Festivals

New Orleans is a strange and wonderful place.

There are 2 "modern" (less than 100 years old) festivals unique to New Orleans that mark our seasons:

Jazzfest - which takes place the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May. This festival is full of music and dancing and food and arts. It's guaranteed to fall over the May Day period. This festival typically takes place right after our "cold" season ends and before our HOT season begins. It brings people of all ages and interests together.

Voodoo Fest - which is ending today. Is a newer offering, only 10 years old this year. But it survived the apocalypse surrounding Hurricane Katrina and is now firmly embedded in New Orleans existence.
How do I know. Voodoo Fest now has a Kid's Stage. Once a festival appeals to all ages it somehow manages to lock itself into the essence of the city.

It is strange and wonderful and some how natural that both these festivals are aligned with the 2 pagan festivals that mark the time when the veil is supposed to be thin: May 1st & Holloween.