All You Want to Know About Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is a festive holiday that is typically celebrated for European Christians. In tradition, Mardi Gras is celebrated for Catholics to overindulge before Ash Wednesday, which begins the solemn weeks of fasting and Lent. The first Mardi Gras festival occurred in 1703 at Fort Louis de la Mobile, which was founded by the French-Canadian explorer, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville. The Mardi Gras colors, flag, and song were introduced in 1872, while the first floats were introduced in 1873. Mardi Gras then became a legal holiday in 1875, when Governor Warmoth of Louisiana signed the “Mardi Gras Act.” Mardi Gras is an elaborate and joyful celebration that still lives strong today.

Every country celebrates Mardi Gras in their unique ways. In France, where it originated, natives celebrate by disguising themselves with masks and costumes. They believe that they can chase away the evil spirits by doing this. Daily parades and street theater are all part of the celebration. And in Louisiana, they would celebrate by dressing up and having parades. People would crowd the floats and hope they will throw treats at them, by dressing up as eye catching as possible. Every year they would have a theme for example, 2008’s theme was “King of the Ratapignatas, Raminagrobis and other packs of masked rats” They would also make a special cake called “King Cake” every year at around Mardi Gras, stores would start to sell “King Cake”. A Mardi Gras party wouldn’t be a party without “King Cake” because as part of the many games, when you are eating the “King Cake” there is a plastic baby hidden inside it and your objective is to find that baby in the shortest time. To sum it all up, no matter how you celebrate Mardi Gras, it is always the most fun when you celebrate it in your own way.

Mardi Gras is always the day before Ash Wednesday which itself is always forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays) or forty-six days before Easter (including Sundays). Easter always follows on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox. Easter always falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 inclusively. As a result, Mardi Gras is forty-seven days before the date of Easter which is dependant by the Hebrew calendar.

In conclusion, Mardi Gras is a holiday celebrating European and New Orleans culture. Mardi Gras is a fun holiday that helps you learn about the history of these places while having a great time and relishing in the craziness of the holiday. Popular customs of Mardi Gras are king cakes, masks, and floats, all used to represent the holiday’s goofy nature. The traditional place to celebrate it nowadays is New Orleans, where people commemorate the occasion in the wacky masks and purple, green, and gold, the traditional Mardi Gras colors. Even though this holiday has been glorified for years, we hope that the spirit of this wonderful celebration will be revered and enjoyed for many years to come.