Mardi Gras: Homepage
| Hotels
| Travel
| Store
History
Mardi Gras is a celebration
that begins on or after Epiphany and ending on the day before Ash
Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to
the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the
ritual fasting of the Lenten season. Pancakes and related fried breads or
pastries made with sugar, fat and eggs are traditionally consumed at this
time in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Millions of
fun-seekers travel to New Orleans Bourbon Street in the French Quarter every year to celebrate Mardi Gras on a
grand scale, with masked balls and colorful parades, since French settlers
arrived in the early 1700s.
Marching bands
take to the streets with music and festive dress to start the celebration
by spreading jazz music through the city before the more than 350 floats
and 15,000 costumed paraders.
Crazy costumes
and wild make-up are the order of the day for paraders and parade-watchers
alike.
The origins of
Mardi Gras can be traced to Medival Europe, though there is no written
record how it became what we know today as Mardi Gras. The Mardi
Gras we celebrate today -- with Kings, Mardi Gras colors, and brass bands
-- are traced to New Orleans. Other cities famous for Mardi Gras
celebrations include Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sydney, Australia, Port of
Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Quebec City, Canada; Mazatlán, Sinaloa in
Mexico; and New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
French-Canadian
explorer, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville, established
"Pointe due Mardi Gras in 1699. He also established "Fort Louis
de la Louisiane" in 1703 where the first Mardi Gras was organized. By
the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New Orleans.
By
the late 1830s, New Orleans started to hold street processions of maskers
with carriages and horseback to celebrate Mardi Gras. In 1873, the first
floats were constructed entirely in New Orleans instead of France. In
1875, Governor Warmoth of Louisiana signs the "Mardi Gras Act"
making it a legal holiday in Louisiana.
Mardi
Gras Dates |
2011 |
March
8 |
2018 |
February
13 |
2012 |
February
21 |
2019 |
March
5 |
2013 |
February
12 |
2020 |
February
25 |
2014 |
March
4 |
2021 |
February
16 |
2015 |
February
17 |
2022 |
March
1 |
2016 |
February
9 |
2023 |
February
21 |
2017 |
February
28 |
2024 |
February
13 |
|
|