Mardi Gras

This Tuesday, February 21, 2012 marks the end of an annual festival that has been held for hundreds of years, this event is called Mardi Gras or Carnival. I want to talk mainly about Mardi Gras in New Orleans, because I was recently down in the bayou, but first some history about Carnival. Countries around the world celebrate Mardi Gras as a celebration before the Catholic holiday of Lent, which is a period of sacrifice from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. In a nutshell Lent is a period of 40 days in which members of certain branches of Christianity give up some aspect of their lives be it a type of food, alcohol, driving, watching television, the possible sacrifices for Lent are infinite. So of course in preparation for this “fasting” as some call it, there is typically some form of celebration in major cities, that have a large percentage Catholic or Anglican Christians. So how does New Orleans play in all this jazz? Punny right? Well the Big Easy is host to arguably the largest Mardi Gras celebration in North America. In a tradition that has continued officially since 1833, New Orleans hosts around a week of celebration for locals and visitors either out of state or even out of country. Mardi Gras in New Orleans typically kicks off on Thursday night the week before Lent and continues until Fat Tuesday. Oh you’ve never heard of Fat Tuesday before, let me explain. Fat Tuesday is “the day” to celebrate Mardi Gras at midnight on Fat Tuesday the celebration is over and everyone goes home. The day gets its name from a tradition of enjoying fatty foods the night before the 40 days of fasting begin aka Lent, and the name has stuck. The celebration itself consists of parades, live music, dressing in flashy costumes and collecting souvenirs, the most common are beads. The parades are put on by the different krewes of the city; a krewe is simply an organization that puts on a parade and sometimes a corresponding ball. The krewes are a board of sorts who decide amongst themselves and the local government how and when the major parades and celebrations will be held. One each day there are typically parades on the major streets put on by krewes and at night there are parties on the streets in the French Quarter, the old section of New Orleans for those who are “of age,” the most popular of which is Bourbon Street. This continues every day until Fat Tuesday on which there are balls and some historic symbolic mumbo jumbo in addition to the parades and partying. All in all Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a celebration that is as historic as it is fun. These days many of the people who go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans have no intention of fasting for Lent and are only looking for a good time. So on Tuesday when you are bored in class on Tuesday just remember that you could be down in New Orleans eating a Po’boy and enjoying a hurricane, if you are of age of course.

·         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Mardi_Gras

·         http://mardigrasday.com/

·         http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/