Growing up in the toe of the boot in our state, Louisiana, Mardi Gras was not strongly celebrated unless people in the community had connections across the lake in the city of New Orleans. For many of us it was simply three days out of school in the wintertime, and we got to bring King Cakes to school and hope we bit into a plastic baby. Over the years, Mardi Gras has crept into our area and has been a joy to celebrate, although many have no idea of the origin.
Mardi Gras is a Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. Also known as Carnival or Carnaval, it's celebrated in many countries around the world --- mainly those with large Roman Catholic populations --- on the day before the religious season of Lent begins. Brazil, Venice and New Orleans play host to some of the holiday's most famous public festivities, drawing thousands of tourists and revelers every year.
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 --- meat, eggs, milk, lard and cheese --- that remained in their homes, in anticipation of several weeks of eating only fish and different types of fasting. The word carnival, another common name for the pre-Lenten festivities, also derives from this feasting tradition: In Medieval Latin, carnelevarium means to take away or remove meat, from the Latin carnem for meat.
The first American Mardi Gras took place on March 3, 1699, when French explorers Pierre Le Moyne de'Iberville and Sieur de Bienville landed near present-day New Orleans. They held a small celebration and dubbed their landing spot Point du Mardi Gras. In the decades that followed, New Orleans and other French settlements began marking the holiday with street parties, masked balls and lavish dinners. When the Spanish took control of New Orleans, however, they abolished these rowdy rituals, and the bans remained in force until Louisiana became a U.S. state in 1812.
On Mardi Gras in 1827, a group of students donned colorful costumes and danced through the streets of New Orleans, emulating the revelry they'd observed while visiting Paris. Ten years later, the first recorded New Orleans Mardi Gras parade took place, a tradition that continues to this day.
In 1857, a secret society of New Orleans businessmen called the Mistic Krewe of Comus organized a torch-lit Mardi Gras procession with marching bands and rolling floats, setting the tone for future public celebrations in the city. Since then, krewes have remained a fixture of the Carnival scene throughout Louisiana. Other lasting customs include throwing beads and other trinkets, wearing masks, decorating floats and eating King Cake.
