Every Sunday before Fat Tuesday, for nearly 60 years, the Old Church Street Graveyard stirs to life.
It will happen again this Sunday at one of Alabama’s oldest cemeteries, where a procession of women dressed in long black gowns and veils will arrive to mourn, argue, and dance. It is a scene so strange and theatrical that crowds climb atop the 10‑foot brick wall encircling the graveyard just to witness it.
“It’s still a place where the city goes to tap into its identity, particularly on Joe Cain Day,” said architectural and maritime historian John Sledge. “It doesn’t have the magnificent statuary of Magnolia Cemetery, but it has its own charm. I love the way, at Mardi Gras, it moves back to the center of the local consciousness.”…