Merry Widows of Joe Cain
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The Mardi Gras mystic society of "Cain’s Merry Widows" (a women’s mystic society) was founded in 1974 in Mobile, Alabama, home of the first Mardi Gras in America (1703) [^MOBMUSE]. Each Mardi Gras, on Joe Cain Day (the Sunday before Fat Tuesday), members of this society dress in funeral black with veils, lay a wreath at Cain’s burial site at Church Street Cemetery, wailing over their "departed husband's" grave, then traveling to Joe Cain’s house on Augusta Street to offer a toast and eulogy to their "Beloved Joe".
Huntsville, AL bluegrass/folk/country band, The Pine Hill Haints, perform a song titled "The Merry Widows Of Joe Cain" which, in its lyrics, pays homage to Joe Cain, Mardi Gras tradition, and the city of Mobile itself. The band also makes it a yearly tradition to perform in Mobile each Joe Cain Day.
