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Mardi Gras is in the air as Twelfth Night has arrived to signal the beginning of the Carnival season.
According to World Book, Twelfth Night is a Christian holiday celebrated 12 days after Christmas — Jan. 6 — and it marks the end of the Christmas season.
Also known as the Epiphany, or the Feast of the Epiphany, the holiday commemorates the coming of the wise men to Jesus. Throughout the ages, the celebration of Twelfth Night and the Epiphany has evolved.
According to LouisianaTravel.com, the Catholic Church set Jan. 6 to indicate the start of the festive Carnival season — a feast before Ash Wednesday and the fasting of Lent. Mardi Gras is not a set date as it always precedes Ash Wednesday which is 46 days before Easter. Fat Tuesday, the French version of Mardi Gras, can therefore can be as early as Feb. 3 or as late as March 9, making the Carnival season as short as 28 days or as long as 63 days.
Events across Louis-iana are held on Twelfth Night. Locally, most Mardi Gras krewes host parties to celebrate the beginning of carnivals and the numerous parties, including a ball, to be held leading up to the big day. There will five parades, one each day, in the Tri-City area beginning on Feb. 21.
WhyChristmas.com offers the European tradition of Twelfth Night. Dating back to medieval and Tudor times, WhyChristmas.com says Twelfth Night marked the end of ‘winter’ which had started on 31st October with All Hallows Eve. Parties often featured roles society role reversal with servants being served by the rich people.
Also, our European predecessors ate Twelfth Night cake on Twelfth Night. This was a rich cake that include eggs and butter, fruit, nuts and spices. The modern Italian Panettone is the cake they currently have that’s most like the old Twelfth Night cake.
This is when the tradition of a dried pea or bean being cooked in the cake began. Whoever found it was the lord or lady of Misrule for night. This tradition goes back to the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia, according to WhyChrist-mas.com. In later times, to make the Twelfth Night ‘gentile,’ two tokens were put in the cake (one for a man and one for a women) and whoever found them became the ‘king’ and ‘queen’ of the Twelfth Night party.
LouisianaTravel.com says Twelfth Night rituals took place in Creole homes in New Orleans when its French settlers brought the gateau des rois (king cake) custom with them. In 1870, Twelfth Night Revelers formalized the Mardi Gras connection with its first parade and ball.
Today’s King Cake is features a plastic baby doll either tucked inside or placed on the side for the purchaser to hide. The oval-shaped cinnamon brioche is covered in icing and topped with granulated sugar in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold and green.
Local custom dictates that whoever gets the King Cake slice with the baby buys the next cake or gives the next party. Traditionalists will not eat a slice of king cake before Twelfth Night.
By the early 21st Century, more than one million king cakes were being consumed locally each year, with another 75,000 shipped out of state via overnight couriers, LouisianaTravel.com says.
Many places sell King Cake throughout the year.
Twelfth Night is also the name of a famous play written by William Shakespeare. It’s thought it was written in 1601-02 and was first performed at Candlemas in 1602, although it wasn’t published until 1623.
—Information from: World Book, www.louisianatravel.com and www.whychristmas.com.

March 29, 1938 – January 3, 2020
Winnie F. Poole Friou was called home to her Lord and Savior on Fri-day, January 3, 2020, at 5:58 p.m. at Franklin Foundation Hospital.
Winnie was born in Powhatten, La. on March 29, 1938, the youngest of eleven children born to Cicero and Alto Poole and was raised in the Natchitoches area. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend who was a 30 year resident of Verdunville, where she has resided with her husband Johnny.
Those she leaves to cherish her memory include her husband, Johnny Friou; four children, Elizabeth Gaspard and her husband Altus, Susan Elaine Dartez, Johnnie Glenn Adams Sr., Teresa Ann Aucoin and her husband Kerry; eleven grandchildren, John Warren Craigen III, Candace Kay Wilson, Altus Joseph Gaspard Jr., April Gaspard Grimes, Tonya Gaspard, Wayne Dartez, John David Dartez, Jeannie Marie Hebert, Johnnie Glenn Adams Jr., Paralee Frances Gobert, and John Paul Gobert; fourteen great grandchildren; one great great grandchild; one brother, Samuel Otis Poole; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her daughter, Barbara Louise Pritchett; her parents, Cicero Calhoun Poole and Alto Parlee Roy Poole; as well as nine siblings, James, Franklin, Arthur, Nathan, Cicero “Buck”, Vira, Cynthia, Gray, Viola.
Funeral services for Winnie will be held Thursday, January 9, 2020, at 2 p.m. at Ibert’s Mortuary in Franklin with visiting hours beginning at 9 a.m. Following the services she will be laid to rest in Teche Gardens Cemetery in Verdunville. Deacon Mary Stansbury will conduct the services. Serving as pallbearers will be Steven Hebert, Chris Theriot, Johnnie Glenn Adams Jr., Kerry Aucoin, Clarence Gobert, and John Paul Gobert.
Family and friends may view the obituary and express their condo-lences online by visiting www.iberts.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Ibert’s Mortuary, Inc., 1007 Main Street, Franklin, La. 70538, (337) 828-5426.

The following are the radio dispatch logs from the Morgan City Police Department. To report unlawful or suspicious activity, call the police department at 985-380-4605.
Friday, Jan. 3
5:34 a.m. 6400 block of La. 182; Alarm.
8:03 a.m. 800 block of Victor II Boulevard; Officer stand by.
10:12 a.m. 1200 block of Victor II Boulevard; Theft.
12:35 p.m. 1700 block of East Garner Street; Hit and run.
1:11 p.m. 500 block of Brashear Avenue; Medical.
2:48 p.m. U.S. 90 West; Traffic incident.
3:00 p.m. La. 70 and Veterans Boulevard; Accident.
3:01 p.m. 2400 block of Tupelo Street; Medical.
6:12 p.m. 500 block of Florida Street; Complaint.
6:27 p.m. 900 block of Duke Street; Disturbance.
6:53 p.m. Willard and Eighth streets; Standby.
10:19 p.m. 200 block of Everett Street; Telephone harassment.
Saturday, Jan. 4
1:59 a.m. 700 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard; Assist.
3:38 a.m. 1600 block of Sixth Street; Alarm.
12:00 p.m. 800 block of Brashear Avenue; Assistance.
12:07 p.m. 7400 block of La. 182; Assistance.
12:27 p.m. 2300 block of Maple Street; Traffic incident.
12:31 p.m. 100 block of Mallard Street; Assistance.
12:32 p.m. 200 block of Glenwood Street; Loud music.
1:16 p.m. 6600 block of La. 182; Disturbance.
1:24 p.m. Fourth Street and Railroad Avenue; Animal.
1:35 p.m. 500 block of Brashear Avenue; Medical.
6:02 p.m. 3000 block of Diane Drive; Disturbance.
6:09 p.m. 3200 block of Lake Palourde; Alarm.
6:58 p.m. Federal Avenue and Leona Street area; Complaint.
7:19 p.m. 3000 Diane Drive; Stand by.
7:25 p.m. 5000 block of Railroad Avenue; Medical emergency.
7:33 p.m. 1200 block of Brashear Avenue; Alarm.
11:39 p.m. 300 block of Federal Avenue; Loud music.
Sunday, Jan. 5
12:10 a.m. 600 block of Brashear Avenue; Disturbance.
12:20 a.m. 1400 block of Bernice Street; Alarm.
2:16 a.m. 600 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard; Disturbance.
7:24 a.m. 300 block of Greenwood Street; Alarm.
7:40 a.m. 300 block of Garber Street; Medical.
9:51 a.m. 1500 block of Nevada Street; Medical.
12:01 p.m. Onstead and Sixth streets; Medical.
12:04 p.m. 500 block of General Macarthur Street; Medical.
12:19 p.m. 600 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard; Theft.
12:40 p.m. 3000 block of Allison Street; Disturbance.
12:41 p.m. Fourth and General Macarthur streets; Animal.
1:14 p.m. Walnut Street; Complaint.
1:44 p.m. 900 block of Federal Avenue; Civil matter.
2:10 p.m. 1200 block of Walnut Street; Accident.
2:41 p.m. U.S. 90 West; Traffic incident.
3:33 p.m. 1400 block of Railroad Avenue; Medical.
4:33 p.m. 600 block of Seventh Street; Complaint.
4:43 p.m. 500 block of Barrow Street; Medical.
4:44 p.m. Front and Bowman streets; Found item.
6:18 p.m. Garber Street area; Complaint.
8:41 p.m. Fourth and Arenz streets; Hit and run.
8:49 p.m. 100 block of South Railroad Avenue; Disturbance.
11:23 p.m. Louisiana and Fifth streets; Loud music.
Monday, Jan. 6
12:06 a.m. Bernice Street; Suspicious subject.