Everything about Mardi Gras totally explained
"
Mardi Gras" (
French for
Fat Tuesday) is the day before
Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is the final day of
Carnival, the three day period preceding the beginning of Lent, the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday immediately before Ash Wednesday (some traditions count Carnival as the entire period of time between
Epiphany or
Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday). The entire three day period has now come to be known in many areas as Mardi Gras. Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include
New Orleans,
Louisiana;
Mobile, Alabama and
Sydney, Australia. Many other places have important Fat Tuesday celebrations as well. Carnival is an important celebration in most of
Europe, except in the United Kingdom where
pancakes are the tradition, and also in many parts of
Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Belgium
In the Belgian city of
Binche the "Mardi Gras" is the most important day of the year and the summit of the
Carnival of Binche
.
Around 1000
Gilles are dancing through the city from 4.00 AM to late hours on traditional carnival songs.
In 2003, the Carnival of Binche was proclaimed one of the
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by
UNESCO.
Brazil
In Brazil, the Carnival celebrations in
Recife,
Salvador are well-known with the most notable being that one held in
Rio de Janeiro. The celebrations of Carnival end on Mardi Gras. Thousands of people from across Brazil and also from other parts of the world come to attend the festivities.
Recife
Recife is home to several noted Carnival celebrations. One famous event is the "Noite dos Tambores Silenciosos". Recife’s Carnival is nationally known and attracts thousands of people every year. The party starts a week before the official date, with electric trios “shaking” the Boa Viagem district. On Friday, people take to the streets to enjoy themselves to the sound of frevo and to dance with maracatu, ciranda, caboclinhos, afoxé, reggae and manguebeat (cultural movement created in Recife during the 90s) groups. There are still many other entertainment poles spread out around the city, featuring local and national artists. One of the highlights is Saturday when more than one million people follow the Galo da Madrugada group. From Sunday to Monday, there's the Night of the Silent Drums, on the Pátio do Terço, where Maracatus honor slaves that died in prisons.
Rio de Janeiro
The
Carnival is an annual celebration in Brazil held 40 days before Easter and marks the beginning of Lent.
Rio de Janeiro has many Carnival choices, including the famous
Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) parades in the
sambódromo exhibition centre and the popular 'blocos de carnaval', which parade in almost every corner of the city. The most famous parades are the
Cordão do Bola Preta with traditional carnaval parades in the centre of the city, the
Suvaco do Cristo parades in the Botanic Garden,
Carmelitas parades in the hills of Santa Teresa, the
Simpatia é Quase Amor is one of the most popular parades in Ipanema, and the
Banda de Ipanema which attracts a wide range of revelers, including families and a wide spectrum of the gay population (notably spectacular drag queens).
Salvador
According to the
Guinness Book, the
carnival or
Carnaval of Salvador de Bahia is the biggest street party on the planet. For an entire week, almost two million people join the city's street celebrations, which are divided into circuits: Barra/Ondina, Campo Grande and Pelourinho. The music played during Carnaval includes Axé and Samba-reggae. Many "blocos" participate in Carnaval, the "blocos afros" like Malé Debalé, Olodum and Filhos de Gandhi being the most famous of them.
Caribbean nations
In the Caribbean,
Carnival is celebrated on a number of islands:
Antigua,
Aruba,
Barbados,
Dominica,
Dominican Republic,
Grenada,
Guadeloupe,
Haiti,
Jamaica,
St. Lucia,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Saint Kitts and Nevis, and
Trinidad and Tobago are some of the celebrants.
Colombia
Several
Colombian cities celebrate carnivals in the period between
Twelfth Night and Mardi Gras. The most important of these celebrations is
Barranquilla's Carnival (Spanish: Carnaval de Barranquilla), which starts on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday and ends on Mardi Gras. The roots of Barranquilla's Carnival date back to the 19th century, and is reputed for being second in size to Rio's, but is far less commercialized. The
Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed by
UNESCO, in November of
2003, as one of the
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
France
The city of
Nice, France records that in the year 1294, the Comte de Provence Charles II, Duc d’Anjou began taking his holidays in Nice to take part in the festivities of Carnival complete with
balls, masquerades, bonfires, jugglers, mimes, and more. All that was required to take part was a costume and a mask. So much revelery was had that even the church couldn't control the more obsene aspects. The city's records, however, show that the celebration hit a high note in the period of time they call the
Belle Époque, in the late 19th century to early 20th century before the World Wars. The city of Nice still celebrates Mardi Gras with parades of flower covered floats and brilliant night-time light displays.
Germany
The celebration of Mardi Gras in Germany is called
Karneval,
Fastnacht, or
Fasching. Fastnacht means "Eve of the Beginning of the Fast", and thus it's celebrated until the day before Ash Wednesday. The most famous parades are being held in Düsseldorf, Köln (Cologne), and Mainz on Monday before Ash Wednesday on "Rosenmontag" for example Lundi Gras.
Guatemala
The main celebration of Mardi Gras in Guatemala is in
Mazatenango.
India
In
Goa, India, the Carnival is celebrated for three days culminating on Fat Tuesday. Goa was a Portuguese colony until 1961. In
Kerala State the carnival parade is called "Rasa" (fun in Sanskrit) and happens on the night before Ash Wednesday. There are typically no masks in the celebration, unlike in Goa.
Italy
Venice
Venice is home to one of the most famous Carnival celebrations in the world, in addition to one of the oldest. The
Carnival of Venice (or
Carnevale di Venezia in Italian) was first recorded in 1268. The subversive nature of the festival is reflected in the many laws created over the centuries in
Italy attempting to restrict celebrations and often banning the wearing of
masks. Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival, traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of
Santo Stefano (
St. Stephen's Day, at the start of the Carnival season and midnight of
Shrove Tuesday. As masks were also allowed during
Ascension and from
October 5 to
Christmas, people could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise
(External Link). Maskmakers (
mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own
guild. In
1797 Venice became part of the Austrian-held
Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the
Treaty of Campo Formio. The Austrians took control of the city on
January 18,
1798 and it fell into a decline which also effectively brought Carnival celebrations to a halt for almost two centuries. Carnival was outlawed by the
fascist government in the 1930s. It wasn't until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1980s that Carnival enjoyed a revival.
Mexico
In
Mexico, there are big Carnival celebrations every year in
Mazatlán, which has "The third largest Mardi Gras in the world", and
Veracruz, which that include the election of a queen and street parades. There is also a week-long Carnival or Mardi Gras celebration in
Mérida,
Yucatán.
Ocozocoautla de Espinosa,
Chiapas also holds a Carnival with a mix of Christian and indigenous elements.
Panama
Carnival is celebrated in several Panamanian cities such as Las Tablas, Ocu, Chitre, Penonomé and Panama City. Carnival in this country is characterized by the soaking of people mainly via the use of water trucks and hoses. The celebrations tend to last through a four day holiday weekend.
Slovenia
In
Slovenia it's called
Kurentovanje. It's from the word Kurent which is the name of a mask, made of sheep skin and richly decorated. People make noise with bells attached on their hips. It's also one of the traditions to eat doughnuts.
Spain
In
Spain it's called 'Carnaval'. The Carnival in Chipiona
Carnaval in Chipiona is without doubt the festival that represents the Spanish town the most. It's celebrated in the month of February and coincides with the date of the festival held in the capital of the province, Cádiz. Even though it's official duration is just 10 days, for at least a month before, there are activities which are always held in the peñas and by various organizations.
Sweden
In Sweden the celebration is called
Fettisdagen. It comes from the word "fett" (fat) and "tisdag" (Tuesday). Originally, this was the only day one should eat "Semlor" (
Semla) (fat Tuesday buns), but these are now found in most grocery stores and bakeries preceding the holiday, and up until
Easter
United States
While not observed nationally throughout the
United States, a number of cities and regions in the country have notable celebrations. Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a sedate
French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers,
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late
17th century, when
King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of
Louisianne, which included what are now the U.S. states of
Alabama,
Mississippi, and
Louisiana. and in 1703 the Mardi Gras tradition began with celebrations by the French settlers in that city. By 1720,
Biloxi had been made capital of Louisiana. The French customs were introduced there at that time.
in the form of trinkets, candy, cookies, peanuts, panties, artificial roses, stuffed animals,
doubloons, cups, hats, can coolers,
Frisbees, medallion necklaces, bead necklaces of every variety, and
Moon Pies. Mobile's first Carnival society was organized in 1704, when Nicholas Langlois founded
Societe de Saint Louis,
reformed in 1711 as the
Boeuf Gras Society (Fatted Ox Society, 1711-1861). Mobile's
Cowbellion de Rakin Society was the first formally organized and masked mystic society in the United States to celebrate with a parade in 1830. The
Cowbellions introduced horse-drawn floats to the parades in 1840 with a parade entitled, "Heathen Gods and Goddesses". Carnival celebrations in Mobile were cancelled during the American Civil War. Mardi Gras parades were revived by
Joe Cain in 1866 when he paraded through the city streets on
Fat Tuesday while costumed as a fictional
Chickasaw chief named
Slacabamorinico, irreverently celebrating the day in front of the occupying
Union Army troops. The
Order of Myths, Mobile's oldest mystic society which continues to parade, was founded in 1867 and held its first parade on Mardi Gras night in 1868. In addition there's a San Diego Brazil Carnival Ball that's part of the San Diego Carnival Mardi Gras season.
San Luis Obispo
Mardi Gras celebrations in San Luis Obispo have been controversial in recent years, with leaders of this Central California city calling for an end to public celebrations in 2005. Civic and university leaders hope to end the event as a state-wide party destination for sudents.
Florida
Pensacola
Pensacola,
Florida hosts a Mardi Gras Celebration. The Pensacola celebrations also use
Moon Pies in combination with beads, coins, candies & Krewe related trades. The
Pensacola festivities and the Krewes that sponsor them often are more light-hearted and family-oriented than some in other venues. The name of a number of the Krewes are puns of the names of historic Krewes in New Orleans and Mobile.
Pensacola's founding was predominantly Spanish as opposed to the French which dominated the settlement of Mobile and of New Orleans. Pensacola picked up on the "parading" celebration of Mardi Gras in the late 1980's. They have a only a few parades before Mardi Gras weekend; their primary parades bing on Friday night and Saturday afternoon (their "Grand Parade") before
Mardi Gras, and a "beach" parade on Sunday. They currently have no parades on Mardi Gras day itself. (You have to drive the 60 miles to Mobile for a Mardi Gras day parade.)
The krewes in Pensacola are much smaller than in Mobile or New Orleans. So typically a parade has floats sponsored by numerous different krewes, rather than a single krewe having their own parade.
Louisiana
For Mardi Gras Dates through 2050 see:
Mardi Gras Dates
New Orleans
New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations draw hundreds of thousands of
tourists to the city in addition to the celebrating locals for the
parties and
parades. The starting date of festivities in New Orleans is March 3, 1699, when a group of French explorers set up camp on the west bank of the Mississippi River, about 60 miles downriver from the site that would become New Orleans. Since that day just happened to be Mardi Gras, a major event on the French calendar, the group's leader, Pierre Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville dubbed the spot, in the spelling of the time, La Pointe du Mardy Gras. The Rex organization put a marker at the Louisiana site 300 years later. An account from 1743 notes that the custom of Carnival balls was already established by that date (during the time
Bienville was still governor). Processions and masking in the streets on Mardi Gras Day took place, and were sometimes prohibited by law, but were quickly renewed whenever such restrictions were lifted or enforcement waned. In 1833,
Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville, a rich plantation owner, raised the money to fund an official Mardi Gras celebration. On Mardi Gras of 1857 the
Mistick Krewe of Comus held its first parade. Comus is the oldest continuously active Mardi Gras organization and started a number of continuing traditions (for example, the use of floats in parades) and is considered the first Carnival
krewe in the modern sense. In 1875 Mardi Gras was declared a legal holiday by the state of Louisiana.
1972 was the last year in which large parades went though the narrow streets of the city's old French Quarter neighborhood; larger floats and crowds and safety concerns led the city government to prohibit big parades in the Quarter. In 1991 the New Orleans city council passed an ordinance that required social organizations, including Mardi Gras Krewes, to certify publicly that they didn't discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licenses. In effect, the ordinance required these, and other, private social groups to abandon their traditional code of secrecy and identify their members for the city's Human Relations Commission. In protest, the
19th century krewes Comus and Momus stopped parading. Proteus did parade in the 1992 Carnival season but subsequently also suspended its parade for a time. In 2000, Proteus returned to the parade schedule. Two federal courts later declared that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association, and an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy of the groups subject to the ordinance. The Supreme Court refused to hear the city's appeal from this decision. Today, many krewes operate under a business structure; membership is basically open to anyone who pays dues to have a place on a parade float.
The
effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in late 2005 caused many to question the future of the city's Mardi Gras celebrations. The city government, essentially bankrupt after the storm, pushed for a massively scaled back celebration to limit strains on city services. However, many krewes insisted that they wanted to and would be ready to parade, so negotiations between krewe leaders and city officials resulted in a compromise schedule scaled back but less severely than originally suggested. The 2006 New Orleans Carnival schedule included the
Krewe du Vieux on its traditional route through Marigny and the French Quarter on February 11th, the Saturday 2 weekends before Mardi Gras, then several parades the Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th a week before Mardi Gras, followed by 6 days of parades Thursday night through Mardi Gras Day. Other than Krewe du Vieux and two Westbank parades going through Algiers, all New Orleans parades were restricted to the Saint Charles Avenue Uptown to Canal Street route, a section of the city which escaped significant flooding (some krewes unsuccessfully pushed to parade on their traditional Mid City route, despite the severe flood damage suffered by that neighborhood). Restrictions were placed on time parades can be on the street and how late at night they can end. Louisiana State troopers and National Guards assisted with crowd control for the first time since 1979. Many floats had been partially submerged in the floodwaters for weeks; while some krewes repaired and removed all traces of these effects, others incorporated flood lines and other damage into the designs of the floats. Most of the locals who worked on the floats and rode on them were significantly impacted by the storm's aftermath, and many had lost most or all of the possessions in their homes, but enthusiasm for Carnival was even more intense than usual as an affirmation of life. The themes of many costumes and floats had more barbed satire than usual, with commentary on the trials and tribulations of living in the devastated city, with references to
MREs,
Katrina refrigerators and
FEMA trailers, along with much mocking of
FEMA, local, and national politicians.
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana hosts eight parades, including the Krewe of Jupiter and Spanish Town. Parades such as the Krewe of Orion offer more of a traditional
New Orleans style parade. All parades take place downtown, with the exception of the annual Southdowns parade, which runs through the Southdowns subdivision just south of Downtown
Baton Rouge.
New Roads
New Roads,
Louisiana hosts the state's oldest Mardi Gras celebration outside New Orleans. The family-friendly celebration has been an annual event since 1922 and includes two parades on Fat Tuesday: the Community Center Carnival parade, one of the nation's oldest African-American sponsored events, which rolls in the morning; and the New Roads Lions Carnival parade, the first-known Mardi Gras parade to be staged as a charitable fundraiser, which rolls in the afternoon. Each parade consists of as many as 30 floats built fresh each year and 10 marching bands and drill units. Law enforcement officials have estimated New Roads parade attendance as high as 80,000.
Lafayette
Lafayette,
Louisiana is home to the state's third largest Mardi Gras celebration, which includes eight parades of floats and bands during the Carnival season. The first parade, ten days before Mardi Gras, is the celebrity-led
Krewe of Carnivale en Rio Parada, featuring over 600 riders. Parade royalty on Fat Tuesday includes King Gabriel and Queen Evangeline, named for the hero and heroine of Longfellow's epic poem, and King Toussaint L'Overture and Queen Suzanne Simonet, named for the great Haitian historical figures. Mardi Gras parades have been an annual tradition in Lafayette since 1934 and attendance on Mardi Gras day has been estimated as high as 250,000 by police spokespersons.
Houma
Houma,
Louisiana hosts a significant Mardi Gras celebration of nine parades, which is second to New Orleans, two of which roll on Mardi Gras day, and the others on the two weekends preceding the big day. King Houmas rules on Fat Tuesday itself, and more than 150,000 have been estimated by law enforcement officials to line the route of his parade in 2008. Mardi Gras has been celebrated annually in Houma since 1947. Krewe of Hercules, Krewe of Aquarius, Krewe of Hyacinthians, Krewe of Aphrodite, Krewe of Mardi Gras, Krewe of Terreanians, Krewe of Cleopatra, Krewe of Houmas, and the Krewe of Kajuns make up the nine parades. Houma is only about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans.
Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana, which is located in the heart of Central Louisiana (CenLa), enjoys a blend of Mardi Gras traditions, in keeping with the area's reputation as the "cultural crossroads" of the state. In addition to Mardi Gras balls, parties, and other functions, it hosts several parades, including the Alexandria Mardi Gras Association (AMGA) Krewe Parade, traditionally on the Sunday before Mardi Gras, a Children's parade, and the Krewe of Provine Parade, usually held on Mardi Gras Day. In 2008, the "College Cheerleaders and Classic Cars" parade made its debut with warm reception. The area's parades are known for their mix of traditional Mardi Gras fun and revelry with a family-friendly environment, with many people from as far away as Texas and Mississippi traveling to Alexandria for Mardi Gras.
Other Louisiana cities
Other cities as well hold Mardi Gras parades, including Thibodaux, where five parades attract an estimated 20,000 spectators each,
Lake Charles,
Shreveport,
La Place,
Minden,
Springhill,
Natchitoches,
Monroe,
Columbia and
Bogalusa. Mardi Gras is one of the exceptions to
the Louisiana law against wearing hoods and masks in public, the other two being Halloween and religious beliefs.
In parts of the
Cajun country, such as
Eunice,
Basile,
Church Point and
Mamou, the traditional
Courir de Mardi Gras (French for the "Mardi Gras Run") is still run, sometimes by maskers on horseback led by "Le Capitaine" who gather ingredients for making the communal meal (usually a
gumbo). Participants gather in costume and move from home to home requesting ingredients for the night's meal. This rural Mardi Gras draws on traditions that are centuries old as revelers sing "La Chanson de Mardi Gras," a song echoing medieval melodies. People escape from ordinary life partly through the alcohol many consume in their festive quest, but even more through the roles they portray. As they act out their parts in a wild, gaudy pageant, they're escaping from routine existence, freed from the restraints that confine them every other day in the year. The
capitaine maintains control over the Mardi Gras. He issues instructions to the riders as they assemble early in the morning and then leads them on their run. When they arrive at a farm house, he obtains permission to enter private property, after which the riders may charge toward the house, where the Mardi Gras sing, dance, and beg until the owner offers them an ingredient for a gumbo. Often, the owner will throw a live chicken into the air that the Mardi Gras will chase, like football players trying to recover a fumble. By mid to late afternoon, the
courir returns to town and parades down the main street on the way to the location where the evening gumbo will be prepared.
Michigan
Detroit
Michigan's first Catholic settlers were French, but the Fat Tuesday celebrations of modern times in
Detroit stem from more the recent influence of the Polish
Paczki Day.
Mississippi
Biloxi
Biloxi,
Mississippi holds a traditional morning parade by the Gulf Coast Carnival Association (GCCA). Nearby
Gulfport, holds a traditional night parade sponsored by the
Krewe of Gemini. Other parades include evening events in
Pascagoula,
D'Iberville and
Gautier,
Mississippi. Damage from
Hurricane Katrina has led to either deviations from traditional routes or parade cancellations in some locations.
Missouri
St. Louis
With the area having been claimed as part "
Louisiana" and in 1763,
Pierre Laclède and a small band of men traveling up the Mississippi from
New Orleans to found a post to take advantage of trade coming downstream by the
Missouri River,
St. Louis,
Missouri can claim some French Catholic heritage.. St. Louis hosts the annual St. Louis Mardi Gras festival in the
Soulard district, sometimes attracting hundreds of thousands of revelers. The size of the crowds varies greatly from year to year, with the weather being the biggest factor in determining crowd size. The event is much like the New Orleans celebration in that it hosts several parades during the Mardi Gras season. On the second Saturday before Mardi Gras, there's a family-oriented "
Krewe of Barkus" pet parade. Participants consist of anyone who dresses up their pet in costume, and walks their pet along the parade route. The parade is followed by the informal
Wiener dog races. Then, on the Saturday before Fat Tuesday, the more adult-oriented flesh-for-beads parade occurs, although there have been various attempts to reserve a family section at one end of the route. People from all over come to storm the streets with
beers and
bead necklaces after the Saturday parade. The streets of Soulard, Geyer, Allen, Russell, Ann, Shenandoah, and others are crowded with people from 7th to 12th Street. The
Fat Tuesday parade occurs in the evening, and in recent years has been moved just north of Soulard to downtown St. Louis.
Texas
Galveston
Galveston, Texas is home to the largest Mardi Gras festival in Texas. The island tradition began in 1867, and includes night parades, masked balls and exquisite costumes.
Port Arthur
Port Arthur,
Texas is home to a very fast-growing Mardi Gras celebration. It began in 1992.
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