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Mardi Gras is a celebration that occurs during the five days leading up to Lent. Technically, it is just the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. The range given covers the major festivities leading up to Lent.
European celebrations originally centered on Kings' Day (Twelfth Night), which falls on Jan. 6 each year and celebrates the arrival of the three kings at Jesus' birthplace, thus ending the Christmas season. The festival known as Mardi Gras (Carnaval in Brazil and Italy) combines Christianity with pagan celebrations of the impending spring, dating back more than 5,000 years.
Pope Gregory XIII made Mardi Gras a Christian holiday when in 1582 he added it to the Gregorian calendar (the 12-month one we still use today). He placed Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. That way, all the debauchery would be finished when it came time to fast and pray. Today it is a five day event with the Tuesday prior referred to as Fat Tuesday.
Mardi Gras arrived in North America with the LeMoyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville, in the late 17th century. The bothers were sent by King Louis XIV (builder of the palace at Versailles) to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiana.
DAWN OF A LEGEND
On Ash Wednesday of 1838, The Commercial Bulletin read:
"The European custom of celebrating the last day of the Carnival by a procession of masked figures through the streets was introduced here yesterday." This was the first Mardis Gras parade held in New Orleans. Due to rowdiness the annual Mardi Gras celebration was almost cancelled in 1857.”
By the 20th Century, the citywide festival ran into issues with anti-discrimination laws in 1988 which called for krewes (groups of people who danced together as a unit) to open their ranks or get off public streets. In response, three of the four oldest krewes Comus (1857), Momus (1873) and Proteus (1882) took their floats and went home.
Post Katrina (2005), Mardi Gras took on a whole new meaning as a reminder of the resiliency and spirit of New Orleans.
Find out more about Mardi Gras fat: http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2009/01/the_history_of_carnival.html#incart_river
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