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New Orleans Travel Articles
Imagine the scene: Spontaneous dancing erupting in the streets. Costumes covered from head to toe in feathers and beads. Elaborately painted faces and masks. Marching bands filling the streets with an irresistible rhythm. And small treasures being cast into the open palms of the crowd. Only Mardi Gras, called “the greatest free show on earth,” could bring out so much creativity and excitement in so many people at one time.
Europeans were celebrating carnival long before it made it across the ocean, but as early as the 18th century, New Orleans adopted the tradition and, in typical fashion, has been giving the celebration its own unique flair ever since.
Much of the present-day pageantry now part of the Mardi Gras tradition came about in 1872, when the Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff came to New Orleans during Carnival and the town was eager to put on an impressive show for him. In fact, it was then that the colors now synonymous with Mardi Gras first made their appearance – the purple, green and gold were the Romanoff family colors and were used in parades to honor him.
These days, the revelry begins on Twelfth Night, January 6 of each year, and continues over the next few weeks to culminate in an ultimate bash on Mardi Gras (which literally means “Fat Tuesday”), the last day of indulgence before lent begins, During this time, a series of parades are put on by krewes, club-like organizations (there are more than 60 of them with names like Orpheus, Zulu, Bacchus and Rex) and grand fêtes are thrown all over town.
Though everyone celebrates Mardi Gras in a different way, at the heart of these festivities are colorful, high energy social rituals that bring entire communities together for a single purpose: pure fun.
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