FEATURE
Mardi Gras Mardi Gras may be unfamiliar to some of you, but it is a widely celebrated holiday in many different parts of the world! You may be wonder ing, what is Mardi Gras? Mardi Gras is a tradition that dates back hundreds of years and is held as a prelude to Lent. ‘Mardi’ is the French word for Tuesday, and ‘gras’ means ‘fat’. In France, the day before Ash Wednesday came to be known as Mardi Gras or ‘Fat Tuesday’. Traditionally, in the days leading up to Lent, merrymakers would binge on all the rich, fatty foods including meat, eggs, milk, and cheese that remained in their homes in anticipation of several weeks of eating only fish and different types of fasting over Lent.
all year to plan out the balls and parades for the holiday. Krewes date all the way back to the midNew Orleans, Louisiana, is one of the nineteenth century when the cities where Mardi Gras is most widely celefirst parades started rolling the brated. The first American Mardi Gras took streets of New Orleans. Probaplace on the 3rd of March 1699, when French bly one of the most well known explorers, Pierre Le Moyne d’lberville and Mardi Gras traditions is the bead tossing or “throws” Sieur de Bienville, landed near present day New Oras we call them. Beads have been passed out since leans. They held a small celebration and dubbed the 1920s when a few Krewes began handing out their landing spot Point du Mardi Gras. In the dectiny trinkets to parade followers. ades that followed, New Orleans and other French settlements began marking the holiday with street The colours of Mardi Gras are parties, masked balls, and lavish dinners. Louisiana purple, green and gold is the only state in which Mardi Gras is a legal holiAnother tradition of Mardi Gras is the delicious day. However, elaborate carnival festivities draw crowds in other parts of the United States during the ‘king cake’. Traditionally, a New Orleans king cake Mardi Gras season as well, including Alabama and is an oval-shaped coffee cake, braided and covered in icing and sugar the colour of Mardi Gras: purple, Mississippi. green and gold. A small plastic baby accompanies Mardi Gras Krewes are organizations which work each king cake. (Due to choking hazards, most king cakes now come with the baby on the outside, allowing the buyer to place it inside of the cake) King cake custom demands that whoever cuts the slice of cake that has the baby in it is king for the day — and also has to purchase the next king cake. At the centre of the Mardi Gras celebration is the parade float. Floats come in large sizes and are outfitted with elaborate decorations.
Frankie Dussek, Year 12, School House 14
