NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – In keeping with a longstanding Mardi Gras tradition, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club toasted to their maids on Sunday at their annual maids brunch.

Twenty-four young women will ride with Zulu on Fat Tuesday. Every year, the girls are honored with a champagne brunch, an umbrella contest, and a grand second line around the ball room.

“At Zulu they don’t have debutantes, they call them maids and they have several activities. They learn etiquette, they just they just learn the art of fine womanhood and they get to build friendships that last a life time,” said this year’s Queen elect, Donna Glapioa.

Zulu is using their platform this year to spread a very real message about the violence that has plagued our city and country.

“This year we wanted to take the opportunity to address some of the community issues that we see over and over consistently, and so while we normally have parade themes that are biblical in nature, this year we wanted to speak directly to the public. On every float that you see during the Zulu parade this year, they’ll have the theme stop the violence,” said Zulu President Naaman Stewart. “So our poster is dedicated to stopping the violence, even some of the throws they will give from the float have the stop the violence message on them as well, so we’re really trying to do our part to get the message to the youth to stop the violence.”