|
|
| |
KREWE OF PROTEUS
Proteus is the Second oldest
Parade at New Orleans Mardi Gras. Founded in 1882, Proteus
("PROH tee us") The shepherd of the Oceans,
is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer
the Old Man of the Sea has always held elaborate masked
Tableau Balls and the most beautiful Street Parade to
date.
in 1893 the Krewe first introduced the tradition of call
outs, Where masked costumed Krewe members invited ladies
in attendance to step out on the dance floor with them.
This custom was then adopted by many other Krewes including
Rex.
The Identity of the King of Proteus is never revealed
to the public. His Parade float is a giant Seashell and
very march part of the New Orleans Carnival scene for
generations.
Proteus did not parade from 1993 - 1999 but returned to
parading on Lundi Gras (The Monday before Mardi Gras Day,
Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday) in 2000. The Parade of
The Krewe of Proteus Follows the Traditional Uptown or
St. Charles Route ending on Canal Street. The actual Krewe
of Proteus parade floats are still using the original
chassis from the early 1880's.
The Mythical Proteus
The son of Poseidon in the Olympian theology ( Homer,Odyssey
iv. 432), or of Nereus and Doris, or of Oceanus and a
Naiad, and was made the herdsman of Poseidon's seals,
the great bull seal at the center of the harem. He can
foretell the future, but, in a mytheme familiar from several
cultures, will change his shape to avoid having to; he
will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing
him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective
protean, with the general meaning of "versatile",
"mutable", "capable of assuming many forms":
"Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility,
versatility and adaptability.
Proteus is also known as a shape shifter and can assume
the guise of anyone or anything he so chooses. When held
fast despite his struggles, he will assume his usual form
of an old man and tell the future.
The so-called Old Man of the Sea, is a prophetic sea divinity,
son of either Poseidon or Oceanus. He usually stays on
the Island of Pharos, near Egypt, where he herds the seals
of Poseidon. He will foretell the future to those who
can seize him, but when caught he rapidly assumes all
possible varying forms to avoid prophesying.
Proteus [PROH-tee-us], like all six of Neptune's newly
discovered small satellites, is one of the darkest objects
in the solar system -- "as dark as soot" is
not too strong of a description. Discovered by Stephen
Synnott, Like Saturn's satellite, Phoebe, it reflects
only 6 percent of the sunlight that strikes it. Proteus
is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter, larger
than Nereid. It wasn't discovered from Earth because it
is so close to Neptune that it is lost in the glare of
reflected sunlight. Proteus circles Neptune at a distance
of about 92,800 kilometers (57,700 miles) above the cloud
tops, and completes one orbit in 26 hours, 54 minutes.
Scientists say it is about as large as a satellite can
be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its
own gravity. Proteus is irregularly shaped and shows no
sign of any geological modification. It circles the planet
in the same direction as Neptune rotates, and remains
close to Neptune's equatorial plane. |
2010 KREWE OF PROTEUS
"The Mythology of Astrology"
page 1 of 14
page 1 of 14
|
|
|
| website
produced by bachigraphics.com©2007-2010 |
|
|
