The BacchanALIENs Guide to Chewbacchus
Droid Collars? Subkrewes? Overlord? Bandoliers? What do these things even mean??? Halp!
Don’t panic. Chewbacchus has been around for a while and over time, we’ve developed a lot of internal lingo. Here’s an A-Z guide for all of you new Chewbs to get acquainted with our weird ways.
Bandolier & Bandolier Blocks: the signature throw of Chewbacchus, as a nod to the bandolier Chewbacca sports. The original bandoliers thrown by the Krewe were made of fur, jute strapping and wood blocks that were decorated and stapled or glued together and given as a single throw. For the 2015 parade, the signature throw was deconstructed as separate bandolier and bandolier block throws, so that parade go-ers and members could mix and match blocks from various subkrewes. Connected with velcro, now both bandoliers and blocks are made from any number of materials. As you’re making your own, note that the hook (rough side of the velcro) should always go on the blocks, and the loop (soft side of velcro) should always go on bandolier straps. HARD ON HARD; SOFT ON SOFT!
Chewbaccanalien: a member of Chewbacchus.
Chewb: short hand for Chewbacchanalien, aka a member of Chewbacchus.
Chewbacchanal: the official after party for the parade.
Chewbaccalypse:
Chewluminati:
Cult of the Sacred Drunken Wookiee:
Droid Collar: wristbands. Droid Collars for parade day are distributed the week leading up to parade day.
Mother krewe: the big Chewbacchus org; usually referenced when doing something for the larger organization as a whole vs something for individual subkrewes.
Wookiee: Capital W, two o’s, two e’s. Get it right, y’all.
Subkrewe: groups organized around a particular theme or fandom who march together in the parade.
Overlord: leader of the mother krewe; people who make sure the krewe keeps spreading the Word of the Wook to all revelrous nerds.
Redshirt: our official parade escorts; members of the Redshirt Rebellion help keep the parade moving; this volunteer force is a gift from the great Sacred Drunken Wookiee.
Set Your Phasers to Stunning (SYPTS); also known simply as Phasers: