History of Mardi Gras

What is Mardi Gras? Why do we celebrate it? Those questions are more common than you think. Mardi Gras is a French holiday that had been celebrated in Paris since the Middle Ages. The French explorer Iberville brought the tradition with him when he came to America in 1699. The traditional date of Mardi Gras in France in 1699 was on March 3, the day that Iberville set up camp on the shore of the Mississippi, 60 miles south of where New Orleans is today. He named the spot Point du Mardi Gras in honor of the special date.

In the 1700's masked balls were common in New Orleans area before Lent when the French ruled the area. When the Spanish took over rule the practice was banned. It wasn't until 1823 the masked balls were allowed to begin again. Shortly after that in 1827 wearing masks and celebrating in the streets was allowed. It is various social clubs that organize the Mardi Gras celebrations not the city or government.

The first documented Mardi Gras parade was in 1837. In the 1840's to 1850's Mardi Gras celebrations got violent and there was a call to end the practice of celebrating Mardi Gras. In 1857 the Comus organization was formed. This was the group that organized the parades and balls. 1871 was the year that the king cake tradition began. In 1872, Russian royalty visited New Orleans and the "King of Carnival" tradition began. This was the year that the Mardi Gras colors of gold, green and purple were introduced. It was reported that the colors were from the Russian monarchy. From the years of 1872 till 1916 many different carnival characters were introduced such as the Rex King.

Mardi Gras was canceled during 1918 and 1919 due to World War I. Mardi Gras then struggled to be popular again but did not come back to life until the mid 1930's. Mardi Gras was canceled again during World War II. 1949 saw Louis Armstrong as "King of the Zulu" and appeared on the cover of Time magazine. By the 1960's many celebrities were now in the parades. The 1970's marked the end of parades in the French Quarter after 117 years. It was due largely to the narrow streets not being wide enough to accommodate the larger and larger parade floats. The parades have all been moved to larger streets in the surrounding areas.

Mardi Gras celebrations begin January 6 and continue until midnight on "Fat Tuesday", which is also known as Mardi Gras Day, the day before Ash Wednesday. There are parades and masked balls almost every night during the season leading up to Mardi Gras Day. The major parades begin early on Mardi Gras Day. Every parade has at least one jazz band and the float rider are actively throwing strings of plastic beads, inexpensive toys, metal coins and other souvenirs. Items thrown from parade floats to the public have been a tradition since the 19th century. The coins are known as doubloons and have become collectible. Doubloons thrown by the Rex king in the 1960 parade are considered valuable.

Another tradition that is observed during the Mardi Gras season is the King Cake season. This tradition started sometime after 1872. The traditional King Cake is and oblong, braided coffee cake with the Mardi Gras colors iced on the top of it. The cake contains a hidden been or baby doll and if found that person must buy the next King Cake or throw the next party.

To the outsider Mardi Gras appears to be an adult holiday but to the locals it is a family season of celebrations. The parades are often sources of family entertainment. Areas outside the French Quarter have a low tolerance for public drunkenness and nudity and thus encourage the whole family to enjoy.

Mardi Gras is the celebration season leading up to Ash Wednesday. Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday. It is called Fat Tuesday because Wednesday starts the season of Lent. Lent is when Christians traditionally give up or abstain from eating certain types of foods to observe Christ's 40 days of fasting.

I hope you now have a clearer understanding of Mardi Gras. For more information you can visit East Jefferson parish's Mardi Gras history page or Wikipedia's New Orleans Mardi Gras page.