July 8, 2015

When a city’s team wins a national championship, the city holds a local parade or rally for the team and its members. But what happens when a national team wins a world championship—and those champs are women? On Friday, July 10th, New York City will host a rare ticker-tape parade for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, the winners of the 2015 FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) women’s World Cup. The parade breaks with decades of precedent to bestow a rare honor upon a group that competes outside the metropolitan area. The parade also marks the first time in more than 50 years that the honor will be bestowed upon female athletes. The parade route will go along Broadway and end at New York City Hall where a special program will be held. Manhattan borough president Gale A. Brewer, who led the push for the parade with a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said “this team will turn the Canyon of Heroes [parade route] into the Canyon of Heroines.”

The United States Women’s National Team celebrates with the trophy after they beat Japan 5-2 in the FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer championship in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Sunday, July 5, 2015. Credit: © Elaine Thompson, AP Photo

The parade will honor the U.S. women after their historic run in this year’s World Cup. The team ran through the tournament allowing only one goal all the way up to the final game. On Sunday, July 5th, the U.S. women went on top fast, scoring four times in the first 16 minutes against Japan. They went on to finish the championship game 5-2. The victory is the third World Cup title for the U.S. women, the only nation to achieve that feat.

Fans held television viewing parties across the United States to watch the tournament. The final match was seen by a record 26.7 million in the United States—the most viewed soccer game in the history of American television.

Other World Book articles: 

• Morgan, Alex
• Solo, Hope
• Sports
• Wambach, Abby
  
• Soccer (1999: A Back in Time article)
• Sports (1999: A Back in Time article)
• Soccer (2011: A Back in Time article)

March 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.