Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!
Tuesday, March 4th, 2014March 4, 2014
Today is Mardi Gras, a day to let the good times roll as the merrymaking and feasting of Carnival come to a close. Also known as Shrove Tuesday, today is the last day that boisterous crowds of costumed spectators in New Orleans; Mobile, Alabama; Biloxi, Mississippi; Rio de Janeiro; Cologne, Germany; and many other cities will enjoy parades of lavishly decorated floats and attend balls and parties. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, a religious season observed in the spring by most Christians. Lent serves as a time of fasting, prayer, and self-sacrifice in preparation for Easter.
Mardi Gras–French for Fat Tuesday–marks the end of the long Carnival season, which starts on January 6, or Twelfth Night. In Western Christian churches, Twelfth Night commemorates the coming of the wise men to the Christ child. Among Eastern Christians, the holiday celebrates the baptism of Jesus.
People come from around the world to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Societies called krewes organize and pay for the parades. Colorfully dressed riders on the floats throw necklaces, toys, and coins called doubloons to the onlookers. The krewes also give balls and parties. Rio de Janeiro sponsors the world’s largest Mardi Gras. There, the floats are built by samba clubs, usually made up of neighborhood associations.
Costumed riders on a elaborate decorated float toss beads and other trinkets to crowds during a Mardi Gras parade. Colorful Mardi Gras parades are a highlight of the Carnival season in New Orleans. (© Alamy Images)
Mardi Gras goes back thousands of years to ancient festivals welcoming spring. In Germany Mardi Gras is called Fastnacht. In England it is called Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday. The first recorded Mardi Gras in New Orleans took place in 1827. But some historians date the city’s first celebration to 1699, when French explorers Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, and Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, landed in Louisiana. Mobile, Alabama, boasts of celebrating the first organized Mardi Gras, in 1703.
