Mardi Gras and Carnival season begins on Twelfth Night (as the 12 days of Christmas) on January 6th and picks up serious momentum until Mardi Gras day arrives. “Mardi Gras” literally means Fat Tuesday in French and refers to the tradition of eating rich, fatty foods on the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Catholic Church calendar.
In New Orleans, the season beginning on January 6th is called Carnival and the term Mardi Gras is specifically reserved for Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Carnival is said to be derived from the Latin “carne vale” meaning “farewell to meat” during the season of Lent. A later translation is said to mean “farewell to the flesh.” This may have apocryphal roots but would explain certain pre-Fat Tuesday behaviors in some quarters of New Orleans.
In the southwest region of Louisiana known as “Acadiana,” the whole season is known as Mardi Gras.
Most of the earlier part of the Mardi Gras season is made up of invitation only balls hosted by private social clubs, usually known as krewes. There are Men’s Krewes, Women’s Krewes, Mixed Gender Krewes, Children’s Krewes, and yes, Canine Krewes, as in Krewe des Chiens!
Around two weeks before Fat Tuesday, the public part of Mardi Gras/Carnival kicks in big time with parades, house parties, indoor and outdoor dances, and general merriment. Think of it as the Super Bowl of celebrations. To give you a sense of scale, there will be over 60 parades in the Greater New Orleans area from February 4th until Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, February 21st.
Big floats and parades in New Orleans, small floats in Crowley, Louisiana
Nearly every town in Acadiana will host a parade and dance. St. Martinville, Church Point, Iota, Crowley, Opelousas, Eunice, Jennings, Jeanrette, Breaux Bridge, Hayes, Henderson, Mamou, Maurice, and Kaplan are some of these towns, all of them within an hour drive from Lafayette, the largest of these venues.
Mardi Gras street dances in Iota
Purple, green, and gold colors will saturate the landscape from New Orleans to Lake Charles. Purple represents justice, gold symbolizes power, and green symbolizes faith.
In Lafayette, where I’m heading this week, the first formal Mardi Gras ball and parade was held in 1869 and they've been going strong ever since. The hardest task during Mardi Gras in Louisiana is picking which one of the scores of events going on every day to experience. Nice problem.
Mardi Gras Courir parades in Mamou...
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Never really understood the root of mardi gras before so this was interesting.
Posted by: Carolyn Liesy | February 17, 2012 at 11:11 PM
I agree, nice problem. Thanks for history info....good to know.
Posted by: Carole Blossom | February 19, 2012 at 11:48 PM