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Mobile Carnival poster from 1900. Floats lining up for an Order of Inca parade in 2007. Mardi Gras is the annual Carnival celebration in Mobile, Alabama.It is the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States, started by Frenchman Nicholas Langlois in 1703 when Mobile was the capital of Louisiana. Carnival, American Style: Mardi Gras at Mobile and New Orleans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. "Mardi Gras in Mobile: Excerpts from the 1908 Diary of Young Visitor, Senta Jones." Gulf Coast Historical Review 11 (Spring 1996): 69-76. Mardi Gras Vertical Files, Mobile Public Library Local History and Genealogy Section, Mobile, Alabama. Although The Big Easy in Louisiana is perhaps best-known for its Mardi Gras revelry, the port city of Mobile, Alabama, founded in 1702 by French settlers, lays claim to being the city that first Experience: Carnival, the extended Mardi Gras season, is Mobile, Alabama’s, greatest living tradition. First introduced to the United States in Mobile by the French in the early 18 th Century, Mobile is the original home to Mardi Gras in the US. The celebrations are increasing grander and more diverse with each passing year. Related Reading: History of the Mardi Gras King Cake. Fun Facts About Mardi Gras in Mobile . 1. The celebration’s traditional motif is green, purple, and gold. Gold and purple have always been the colors of Mardi Gras in Mobile. Purple has long been associated with European royal dynasties. It is also the liturgical color of Lent in Christianity. If you can get there early enough, visit Mobile’s Carnival Museum, which documents the holiday’s 300-year history, before hitting the festivities. The museum includes more than dozen rooms and is filled with historical photographs, elaborate costumes and crowns, parade videos and even a life-sized interactive replica float. Start your Mardi Gras adventure in Mobile at the Mobile Carnival Museum. The Mobile Carnival Museum highlights the history of Mardi Gras in its true birthplace - Mobile, Alabama. The museum features 14 galleries, video presentations, a pictorial hallway and an interactive float area - all in a restored historic mansion. If you want to find out more about the history of Mardi Gras in Mobile, check out Mardi Gras in Mobile— a new book by L. Craig Roberts, writer, historian, and docent extraordinaire at the Mobile While Mardi Gras is commonly intertwined with New Orleans, the true history of where the celebrations started lay in Mobile, AL, around 1703, making it an over 300-year-old tradition. Whether you live around Daphne, Fairhope, or other Alabama communities, the Mardi Gras tradition remains alive and well near Spanish Fort, AL. Mobile’s Mardi Gras traditions trace back to 1703 when French settlers held the first celebration to commemorate their first year of survival in the community they built. Today, the lively festivities showcase a variety of cultural influences and feature parades, elaborate costumes and other prized traditions. Mardi Gras is a Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. It's most famously celebrated with parades in New Orleans Mobile, Alabama is the mother of mystics, the original birthplace of Mardi Gras as we know it! Each year, the city and its surrounding communities come together for weeks of parades, masked balls, MoonPies and merry-making leading up to Fat Tuesday, a season that is collectively known as Mardi Gras. In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile), similar to those that form our current Mardi Gras krewes. It lasted until 1709. In 1710, the "Boeuf Gras Society" was formed and paraded from 1711 through 1861. French for Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras is always on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. This year it will be held on Tuesday Feb. 13. Mardi Gras is only one day but the Mardi Gras season, also known as the carnival season, can last for weeks culminating on Fat Tuesday. Many people assume that New Orleans is the birthplace of Mardi Gras. However, many Segregation in Mobile’s Mardi Gras . Parts of Mobile’s Mardi Gras celebrations continue to have long-standing customs that date back to the days of segregation. (We have no written or direct knowledge of this other than what we can see and experience as observers). The Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (formerly named the Colored Carnival Bienville also established "Fort Louis de la Louisiane" (which is now Mobile) in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated America's very first Mardi Gras. In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile), similar to those that form our current Mardi Gras krewes. It lasted until 1709. An organization that educates while letting the good times roll is the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA). Founded in 1938, this esteemed society has played a pivotal role in shaping and preserving the cultural richness of Mobile's Mardi Gras traditions. Originated in 1703, Mobile is THE birthplace of America's original Mardi Gras. Joe Cain is the man. He brought Mardi Gras back to life after the Civil War by leading an impromptu parade down the streets of Mobile and we've been doing it ever since. He has a whole day dedicated to him during After the Civil War, Comus returned to the parade scene in 1866. Four years later, the Twelfth Night Revelers debuted. This unique group made Carnival history at its 1871 ball when a young women was presented with a golden bean hidden inside a giant cake, signifying her selection as Mardi Gras’ first queen and starting the “king cake” tradition. Get ready for flying Moon Pies, great music, colorful floats, and all the Mardi Gras fun! Mobile Mardi Gras is family-friendly! It is the perfect reason to plan a visit to southern Alabama. There are over 40 parades that roll through downtown Mobile during the two and half weeks before Fat Tuesday. Day 1 Mobile, Alabama Mardi Gras
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