The American holiday season kicks off with a cozy magical feeling. But it also comes with more pressure, higher expectations and countless opportunities to spend more money, with gratitude often getting lost in the mix.
While Garden of Blood & Bone does not celebrate the winter holiday season, observing June 3rd - ÒKÙDÚ Òṣù Kẹ́fà, the first day of the Yoruban New Year "(Kójọdá" - Kójọdá, meaning "May The Day Be Clear or Forecast"), we understand the majority of our customers are celebtating the holiday season now.
And as such, in appreciation of those subscribers and customers who support and shop our products, we are sending out early access to holiday discounts to help put less of a dent in holiday spending. We also offer Affirm, which allows you to buy now and pay later over time, in addition to PayPal invoicing, which is similar to lay-away, allowing payments to be made over a designated period of time (see more).
Most items are made to order with a 3-5 business day processing time frame, up to 1-2 weeks. To ensure delivery by December 25th, the cut off times are December 10th (1-2 week items), and December 17th (3-5 business day items). Recommended shipping deadlines for expected delivery before Dec. 25th once in transit are as follows:
December Holiday Season Ends and Carnival Season Begins
The Carnival Season of Mardi Gras kicks off 2024 January 6th - February 13th, with thousands of costumed revelers taking to the streets of New Orleans to participate in the city's iconic Fat Tuesday parades and festivities. The annual celebration of excess and indulgence is observed everywhere from Rio de Janeiro to Venice, but New Orleans's unique Mardi Gras customs make the city's celebration particularly renowned in the United States and beyond. A date referred to in the Christian calendar as the Twelfth Night because it marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (and hence the holiday season).
Mardi Gras-also known as Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, or Carnival is a debaucherous prelude to Lent, a six-week-long religious fast observed before Easter. The legacy of Mardi Gras can be traced to European Carnival celebrations during the 17th and 18th centuries, dating back to 1699, when explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville arrived in Louisiana and declared a plot of land "Pointe du Mardi Gras" upon realizing it was the eve of the holiday.
In 1718, the city of New Orleans was established near that very spot, and by the 1730s, Mardi Gras parades and masquerade balls became an annual tradition in the Southern city, as well as a state holiday. While Mardi Gras officially takes place on Fat Tuesday-the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent-in New Orleans, annual Mardi Gras festivities start weeks beforehand.
On the Saturday before Mardi Gras, Endymion’s Samedi Gras starts at noon on parade day. Samedi Gras is like the world’s largest block party during Mardi Gras. It is the party that takes place before The Krewe of Endymion Rolls. Not just one party, but parties within parties all leading up to the Endymion Parade.
The morning of February 13th is kicked off by a 200 year old tradition, as the Skull and Bones gangs roam the streets in the 6th ward of Tremé at 5am just outside the French Quarter, waking people up on Mardi Gras morning. Embodying the undead, dragging tools, bones and cans through the streets, peering into homes from the high vantage point of stilts, tapping scepters to the gutters warning of the day to come. Envoking the literal meaning of carnival, “the shedding of flesh” or “farewell to the flesh”, serving a reminder that Carnival like death, is the great equiizer. "Where anyone can join in the fun and be king or queen for a day but none, in the end can escape the grasping reaper." A tradition that tells about the close relationship in New Orleans between death and revelry, history and spectacle.
Congo Park in Tremé was once a gathering place for enslaved Africans reserved for African traditions and expression of culture, including Voodoo, The history and tradition of Louisiana Voodoo has become a unique part of the culture of New Orleans. According to one local tradition, the entrance to the Voodoo underworld can be found in New Orleans through seven gates of Guinee scattered throughout the city's French Quarter. Guinee is presided over by the loa known as Baron Samedi. It is said that the seven Guinee gateways are at their most active - and therefore easier to open - on traditional annual holidays; Christmas and New Year, Mardi Gras, All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day, in addition to Ancestors Day, Twelfth Night, and St. John’s Eve.
The likeness of Baron Samedi leads the parade and many revelers adorn costumes in his likeness to honor him. Garden of Blood and Bone has had the honor to be inspired by Baron Samedi and has created many top hats and Voodoo staffs for his devotees attending Mardi Gras over the years, as well as for altars and other events. Many thanks to those who have allowed us to create for them!
Subscribers are granted early access to the holiday sales now through December 31st. The cut off deadline for delivery by February 13th is January 26th on top hats and Voodoo staffs. As always, we do our best to get orders out quickly. Happy shopping!
With much gratitude, we wish you a most prosperous and healthy New Year! Bòn Ane!!