“Some parading organizations are longtime closed groups; others are more open, like the famous Society of St. Anne, which has been parading through the Marigny and French Quarter for years. It was that group’s extraordinary growth and worldwide recognition that was the impetus for the creation of St. Cecilia, in an effort to scale down the number of paraders and be more “neighborhoody,” Kate says.
St. Cecilia Society was created in 2007, along the lines of the older St. Anne Society.

It’s off through the Marigny to the French Quarter, with a stop at Harry’s Bar on Chartres Street, and down to the Mississippi River.
Once we got to the river, people often had small bags of ashes,” Kate McNee explains. “They would do an offering. The band calmed down and played a dirge, much like a New Orleans funeral. Then when that ceremony was done, they would be back up, and we moved on joyful and triumphant. In St. Cecilia, we do continue that tradition.”