Mardi Gras is always the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” in French. With Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent, a 40 day period of fasting before Easter, Mardi Gras is the “last hurrah,” with participants indulging in their favorite fatty foods and drinks before giving them up.
I may have mention here before that I had never been in a crowd that I thought I couldn’t get our of if I wanted to — except — Mardi Gras in New Orleans. There were so many people, I absolutely couldn’t move. I had never before, or after, experienced anything like it.
One of the most famous Mardi Gras celebrations is in New Orleans, but a lot of other places have their own festivals. The first Carnival celebration originated in Nice, France. Rio de Janeiro, Quebec City and Trinidad have famous Mardi Gras Carnivals, as well as Mobile, Alabama and St. Louis, Missouri. So a lot of places around the world celebrate Mardi Gras as the last day of Carnival season, which starts after Christmas, on January 6th (known as Twelfth Night.)
Needless to say, Mardi Gras is in a league of it’s own — with its own rules, language, traditions, etc. The things I’m about to describe are what I observed in New Orleans — I imagine they apply wherever Mardi Grans is celebrated.
You’ll hear laissez les bon temps router (pronounced lay-say le bon tom rio-lay) over and over at Mardi Gras — it’s the official greeting of Mardi Gras and means “let the good times roll” in Cajun French.
New Orleans has been celebrating Fat Tuesday with parades since 1837. The first floats appeared in the parade in 1857. Parades are planned by “Krewes” — organizations that put on parades and/or balls for Mardi Gras/Carnival. They are clubs of sorts, with dues ranging from $20 to thousands of dollars a year. Some krewes have been hosting Mardi Gras parades for years, others have formed more recently — most are named after Roman or Greek mythology. Each parade kicks off with the krew leader. Next comes the king or queen, followed by the maids and dukes, before the rest of the members.
Krewes are also responsible for selecting carnival royalty in New Orleans, such as ‘Rex.’ the king of Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras was ahead of its time in requiring masks…. it is illegal to ride on a float without a mask. Of course these aren’t COVID-style masks — the original purpose of the mask was to get rid of social constraints for the day, allowing people to mingle with whomever they chose.
Each float in a Mardi Gras parade is decorated differently to fit into a central theme, which can be anything from literature to humor. Most krewes start work on the following year’s floats as soon as Fat Tuesday is over.
Beads were first thrown by Santa during a parade in the early 1900s. It wasn’t until a few decades ago that they became synonymous with flashing. People also throw stuffed animals, toys and other stuff.
The official colors of Mardi Gras are purple, gold, and green. Purple signifies justice, gold means power, and green stands for faith.
King’s Cake, sometimes called the Three Kings Cake, is eaten throughout the world during carnival season. In the US, it is traditionally purple, green, and gold, with a trinket baby-Jesus inside. Whoever gets the baby Jesus is said to have good luck all year.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans will definitely be different in 2021…. but the festivities haven’t been completely cancelled. Fat Tuesday will take place today (February 16.) It won’t be cancelled completely because it’s a religious holiday, but parades and mass gatherings won’t be happening.
Nonetheless, I’m sure New Orleans, and other places will be hopping — there’s a saying in New Orleans, “We don’t hide crazy, we parade it down the street.”
Laissez les bon temps router — Let the good times roll!!!
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