Among the local laws surrounding Mardi Gras is a prohibition of minors from carrying flambeaux.

If you think Mardi Gras is a time when anything goes, think again.

  In fact, there is a whole body of local laws designed to protect public safety, guard against creeping commercialism, and to maintain order amid the colorful chaos that’s Carnival.

  Consolidated in July 1999 and reviewed throughout the year by the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Coordinating Committee, the "Carnival, Mardi Gras" ordinances of the New Orleans City Code spell out the do’s and don’ts for everybody.

  Many laws echo familiar official warnings about ladder safety, nudity and the danger of throwing baubles behind or forward of advancing floats. However, there are some more unique laws. For example, it’s illegal for spectators to bring alligators or any other reptile to the parade.

  New Orleans Police public information commander Lt. Marlon Defillo says the reptile ban is a recent addition to the Carnival law books. "We have seen some parades where some folks go into a panic state, which obviously poses a public safety problem for us," Defillo says. "I know an iguana would make me uncomfortable."

  (Unwritten Carnival law: Don’t make the police uncomfortable.)

  It’s also unlawful for float riders to throw condoms, "sexually explicit" items, "bomb bags," rodents, and marine life "dead or alive" to the beseeching crowds. And it’s illegal to throw anything back at a float. In fact, each float carries a special sign that krewe members can wave to instantly attract police.

  Today, state laws in Baton Rouge are carefully written so that "no can win a $10 million lawsuit just for being hit in the face with a pair of beads," says Carnival historian Errol Laborde. "Most recent ordinance revisions recently involve standardization of trailer hitches and fire extinguishers – pretty boring stuff."

  Still, the Mardi Gras ordinances do liven up the local legalese. The following are samples from the city’s Carnival law books.

• Leave your lizards at home.

"No reptiles shall be allowed within 200 yards of a Mardi Gras parade route not less than two hours before the published scheduled start of the parade, nor within 200 yards of the actual parade for not less than one hour" after the parade disbands.

• Keep your mask on. And your pants.

"No member of any carnival organization shall ride as a masker in public view in a float or minifloat parade unless he is constantly costumed and masked so as to disguise his facial characteristics. This provision shall not apply, however, to the king, queen, captain, maids, dukes, pages, attendants, or special guest celebrities of the organization in question.

  "Maskers … shall be decently attired and no sexually indecent dress or characterization shall be allowed. … Any person violating this provision shall be subject to immediate arrest and the float, vehicle or horse upon which the individual is riding may be seized and impounded by police after the captain of the organization has been informed.

• No coupons, no condoms.

"No Mardi Gras parade participant shall knowingly throw any doubloon, trinket or other throw which would be redeemable for, or entitle the bearer to, a prize or discount on the price of any food, beverage, merchandise, service or admission to any event which displays, conveys or communicates any commercial, political or religious message.

  "No Mardi Gras parade participant … shall hand out, throw, or distribute in any way, any condom or prophylactic or any sexually oriented device."

• Politicking prohibited. Political satire encouraged.

"No participants in any parade shall display in any manner in such parade any endorsement of candidates for elective public office, nor any endorsement of any issues to be voted on in an election. However, nothing contained in this provision shall be construed to prohibit the humorous caricature of current social events and issues."

• Carding flambeaux.

"Persons employed or engaged to carry a liquid fuel flambeaux shall be at least 21 years of age. [Flare carriers] shall be at least 17 years of age."

• Half-fast marchers, yes; impeding parades, no.

"[N]otwithstanding any other provisions to the contrary, only the following marching club organizations may be issued permits to parade on Mardi Gras Day: Half-Fast Marching Club; Jefferson City Buzzards Marching Club; Lyons Marching Club; Corner Club Marching Club; Mondo Kayo Social and Marching Club. In the event any marching club is determined by the police department to be retarding or impeding the progress of any Mardi Gras Day parade, the police department may require the immediate removal of such marching club from the parade route."

• Get that sofa out of the street.

"All ladders used by parade spectators shall be structurally sound. No ladder, chairs, ice chests, chaise lounges and other similar effects [including barbecue pits] shall be placed in intersections or between curbs of public streets … . Additionally, the practice of fastening two or more ladders together shall be prohibited."

• No homesteading.

"It shall be unlawful for any individual, organization, or corporation to fence, rope off or stake out any area of public property along a parade route, except when necessary to protect plants, shrubbery, trees and other landscaping materials with the approval of the department of parkways and parks."

  This law is frequently enforced on the Orleans Avenue neutral ground, prior to the popular Endymion parade in Mid-City. Police suggest that if you want to set up a viewing area, it must be attended at all times. "As long as they are with their property it’s not a problem, but if they leave their property unattended, they are basically homesteading," Defillo says.

• Parade or die.

If a carnival organization fails to parade for reasons other than "weather, fire or national emergency," its permit "shall be canceled for that year and all subsequent years." .

Remembering a ‘Mardi Gras Attorney’

Few lawyers in the City Attorney’s Office worked on New Orleans’ Carnival ordinances with more zeal than Raju Haque, who succumbed to cancer more than four years ago at the age of 32.

  From the time Mayor Marc Morial took office in May 1994 until Haque’s death in December 1996, Haque relentlessly crafted, revised and promoted pro-Carnival ordinances. And he frequently called reporters to "leak" Carnival stories to the public – even in July.

  "He wanted to protect Mardi Gras from all that was evil," his widow, attorney Betsy Barnes, recalls with a laugh. "His main focus was preventing any kind of commercialism. For example, when the Oscar Mayer wiener mobile went by on a parade route, and threw little weenie whistles to the crowd, he would actually check them to make sure the Oscar Mayer logo was covered up. He was so concerned that if business encroached on Mardi Gras, it would be downhill."

  Haque’s last Carnival season was in 1996. Although weakened by lymphoma, he told his doctors he wanted to ride in the Krewe of Tucks. And he did. He also braved rain and chilly temperatures on Fat Tuesday. He was out at 7 a.m. to wave to clarinetist Pete Fountain and his Half-Fast Marching Club as they spilled out of Commander’s Palace restaurant after breakfast.

  Haque worked on Carnival legislation until a few days before his death on Dec. 6, 1996. "He did other things for the city and the city council, drafting ordinances and other issues, but I think he would have been happy just to be Mardi Gras attorney for New Orleans," says Barnes.

  Assistant City Attorney Andre Carter now handles all Carnival ordinances for the law department.