A point on the river named for a party
Mardi Gras is French for FAT TUESDAY, the last day before Lent, when Christians traditionally gave up rich foods for forty days, so they ate and celebrated beforehand. In Britain the same day is Shrove Tuesday, famous for pancakes, as our breakfast page explains. In New Orleans it became something much bigger.
On 3 March 1699, French explorers camped by the Mississippi River about sixty miles below the site of the future city. It happened to be Mardi Gras day in France, so they named the spot Point du Mardi Gras. NEW ORLEANS was founded nearby in 1718 by French settlers, who brought masked balls and street celebrations with them. Mobile, in Alabama, claims to have held its own Mardi Gras even earlier, in 1703. Because it is tied to Easter, Fat Tuesday can fall anywhere between early February and early March, and it is a legal holiday in parts of Louisiana, when schools and offices close.
Krewes and the royal colours
The parades are put on by clubs called krewes, which spend all year building floats. The first to organise a parade with torches and themed floats was the Mistick KREWE of Comus in 1857. Float riders must by law wear a MASK, a rule that keeps the MASQUERADE spirit and hides who is on board.
The colours PURPLE, GREEN and GOLD were chosen in 1872 by the krewe of Rex, whose leader is crowned king of the carnival. The same year a Russian grand duke visited the city, and Rex put on a special parade in his honour. Rex later said the colours stood for justice, faith and power.
Beads, doubloons and a baby in a cake
Riders THROW things to the crowds, and the most famous throws are strings of BEADS, once made of glass in Czech workshops and now of plastic. People catch so many that the city has had problems with beads clogging its drains. In 1960 Rex began throwing aluminium DOUBLOON coins, stamped with the krewe's emblem and theme, and people collect them.
The carnival season starts on 6 January, Twelfth Night, and lasts until Fat Tuesday. Throughout it, bakeries sell KING CAKE, a ring of sweet dough decorated with purple, green and gold sugar. A tiny plastic baby is hidden inside, and whoever finds it in their slice is supposed to buy the next cake or throw the next party.
Marching bands and jesters
School MARCHING bands high-step through the streets between the floats, and New Orleans is the city where JAZZ was born, as our jazz page explains. The JESTER, a COSTUME of FEATHERS, a FLOAT in the PARADE and the REVELRY on BOURBON Street all make it one of the most FESTIVE days in America. At midnight, police on horseback ride down Bourbon Street to clear the crowds, and Lent begins.
One of the city's most remarkable traditions belongs to its Black communities. Groups known as Mardi Gras Indians spend the whole year hand-sewing enormous suits of beads, sequins and dyed feathers, and appear on Fat Tuesday chanting and drumming. The tradition goes back to the 1800s, and many say it honours the Native Americans who sheltered people escaping slavery.