Meet Clairvie, Jeanne d’Arc and other French guests on Jan 4th.  please come to the Mayor’s Reception to welcome them and show your support of this Rotary project.  When Emmeline was in Orléans, their Mayor hosted a huge welcome reception.  We can show the same kind of hospitality.

 

Additionally, on Sunday Jan 7, Natchez Steamboat has offered members a discount to join the french guests for a dinner jazz cruise.  This is an opportunity for you to spend time with them and to enjoy a ride on the river which is delightful and beautiful to see the city from the water.  Go to https://www.steamboatnatchez.com/ and purchase a ticket for the Jan 7 dinner cruise second seating.  Use Promo code ARC and the price is reduced to $82.00.  Boat leaves the dock at 7 pm.  Come  aboard for a fun evening and some jazz and dinner buffet.  We appreciate the support and generosity of New Orleans Steamboat Co in donating the tickets for the French guests and making a discount available to the Rotary club members.  Hope to see you.

 

Gayle Dellinger

Marley Marsalis named Joan of Arc 2024. She is the next to receive the Rotary cultural scholarship to visit our sister city club in Orleans France.

 

Make your plans now to watch the Joan of Arc parade thru the French Quarter on Saturday Jan 6. Members of the Club have volunteered to walk as monks in the parade.   New props in the  Joan of Arc parade include medieval manuscripts, ringing bells, and a rolling Orléans France cathedral.  These hand-made props will help tell the story of the parade’s Restoration Battalion, which depicts the period after Joan of Arc’s death when Pope Callixtus III ordered a retrial, Inquisitor of France Jean Brehal collected the evidence that exonerates Joan, and the Pope formally declared Joan innocent of heresy and restored her honor.

Joan of Arc’s life aptly demonstrates “Service Above Self,” the motto of Rotary International.  In this spirit of service, members of the New Orleans Rotary Club, dressed as monks in the Restoration Battalion, will carry nine signs illustrated beautifully as medieval manuscripts by Krewe member Judy Sheon, also a member of the New London, New Hampshire Rotary Club.  Judy also created the artwork that superimposes the image of Joan of Arc on a picture of France’s Orléans Cathedral.  Enlarged and mounted on a rolling nine-feet high frame, the prop aims to mimic the light show projected on the actual Orléans Cathedral during the Joan of Arc celebrations in Orléans every May.  In the story of the restoration of Joan’s honor, the new prop also represents the actual celebration that took place in the city of Orléans after the Pope declared Joan’s innocence in 1456.

Today, the Krewe continues the celebration of Joan of Arc, and the New Orleans Rotary Club and the Orléans, France Rotary have joined to also honor Joan and  the special bond between the two cities.  From the Rotary-sponsored exchange of the young women portraying Joan of Arc in the two cities comes Orléans’ Joan of Arc and her pages to the January 6 New Orleans parade.  This visiting French delegation will walk in the Restoration Battalion in front of the Orléans cathedral prop and behind the new ringing bells.  Meant to proclaim the joy of 15th-century France upon hearing of the formal declaration of Joan’s innocence, the ringing bells also celebrate the beginning of a new Mardi Gras season and the enduring relationship between the cities of New Orleans and Orléans in their shared French heritage.

Emmeline Meyer, Joan of Arc 2023, is our first recipient of the Cultural Scholarship to visit Orléans France.  She spoke to our club Nov 8 and elaborated on sites she visited and the hospitality our siter city club showed her and her parents who traveled with her.  She showed slides of the many Jeanne d’Arc statues, stained glass and historic markers throughout the city and surrounding area. I think everyone was ready to plan a trip to visit Orléans. 

 

We will welcome Clarvie Quesne, the French Jeanne d’Arc, to New Orleans January 3.  The two young pages, Maximillien and Theophile, who met Emmeline and developed a close friendship asked if they could come as well.  Bernard, our Rotary contact, wrote to ask if we would accommodate the young boys on the visit and I immediately said “yes”.  Madame Baranger, the Pres of the Jeanne d’Arc Assoc and her husband will be traveling to New Orleans also.  A full week of sightseeing is planned to introduce them to our French culture and emphasize the French heritage we share with Orléans. 

 

The French guests will walk in the Krewe of Joan of Arc parade on Jan 6.  Rotarians will volunteer in the Restoration Battalion as monks and will carry signs that tell the story of Joan. Special souvenir cards recognizing Rotary will be passed out to the parade watchers along the route. Also watch for handmade “throws” such as ornaments, necklaces, pins, matches, swords, prayer cards, and many other unique Joan themed souvenirs.  Please make plans to visit the French Quarter on Jan 6 and see the parade which begins at 7 pm.  This is the first parade and the official start of Mardi Gras.  Jan 6 is celebrated and believed to be Joan’s birthday.

 

Are you a bit unsure of the history surrounding this peasant girl who saved the kingdom of France from English domination.  Check out the life story of Saint Jeanne d’Arc, The Maid of Orleans 1412-1431. https://www.jeanne-darc.info/biography/overview/

 

Learn more about the history of Joan as told in the parade.  This story book may be written for children but adults will enjoy the story too. https://joanofarcparade.org/who-we-are/parade-route/

 

To learn more about the Krewe of Joan of Arc, https://joanofarcparade.org

 

 

 

 

Contact Gayle Dellinger GBDell@aol.com

 

 

 

 

If you would like to be featured in our member spotlight, please upload your photo and complete your bio in our member directory. You can access the directory here .  When complete, just send an email to alanc@ldcv.com and let me know you’d like to be added to the rotation.

 

Thank You,

 

Alan Case