What is
Mardi Gras?
Mardi Gras,
which means "Fat Tuesday" in French, is the
grand finale of a long period of parties and celebration(also
referred to as the carnival season) that starts on January
6th, 12 days after Christmas. Mardi Gras Day is always
the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and falls on February
8th in 2005.
The tradition of Mardi Gras in New Orleans began in the
late 1600's by French explorers who held celebrations
of the holiday on the banks of the Mississippi river.
The tradition continues through today and has even spread
to many other areas of the southern U.S. However, New
Orleans is still the epicenter of Mardi Gras celebrations
in the U.S. and attracts millions of people each year
to enjoy the festivities. In fact, on Mardi Gras Day it
is not unusual to find more than a million people packed
into just a few city blocks of the French Quarter in New
Orleans.
Parades
There are about
70 parades held in the New Orleans area for Mardi Gras,
and each parade is put on by a krewe(local clubs). Each
parade consists of anywhere from a dozen to over 50 floats
and members of each krewe dress up in costumes and masks
and ride on the different floats. While on the floats,
the krewe members will throw beads, doubloons, and various
other trinkets out to the crowds lined up along the parade
route. After the parade, private balls are held for the
krewe members.
"Throw
me something mister!" is one of the chants you'll
here from the crowds at Mardi Gras parades, where for
a few weeks plastic beads, metal doubloons, and other
trinkets become prized possessions. People use a variety
of techniques to improve the amount of beads they get.
Some set up ladders along the parade route early in the
morning. Others try to sneak or muscle their way to the
front of the crowd, while some will get on a friends shoulders
and go right up to the krewe member on the float trying
to get more or better beads.
King Cakes
A Mardi Gras
party would not be a party without the King Cake. The
King Cake came from Little Christmas or the Twelfth Night,
celebrated twelve nights after Christmas. On this night,
gifts are exchanged and a King Cake is brought representing
the three Kings who had brought gifts to the baby Jesus.
This cake is basically a large sweet roll covered with
a sweet icing sprinkled with sugar dyed the traditional
colors of Mardi Gras, green, purple and gold. Some of
these cakes are cream cheese filled. Beads and coins can
decorate the top of the cake and lace the edges. A miniature
baby is baked inside the cake. The person who finds the
baby is to be the host of the next king cake party or
buy the next cake. This is one way to keep the merrymaking
alive during Mardi Gras.
To
send a King Cake baked by Gambino's Bakery of New Orleans,
or to learn more about the King Cake, follow this link.
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