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While the parties in Europe, South America, and parts of the United States have gained the most attention in popular culture, they seriously misrepresent and outright eclipse the Catholic intent of the holiday. According to historians, the celebration of Mardi Gras has its roots in the pagan Roman celebration of Lupercalia. The others, however, often come to mind when thinking about Fat Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras. Every year in the United States, thousands of people trek to New Orleans to experience a transcendent party. Other cities around the world celebrate too. Rio de Janeiro is probably the global center of Mardi Gras, though there it is called Carnival. Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a sedate French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers, [3] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiane, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Notable Fat Tuesday celebrations throughout history include the festivities in 1804, the first with Louisiana as a part of America. The first modern Mardi Gras took place in 1857. The 1946 celebration marked the first Mardi Gras in four years after being canceled in 1942 due to World War II. 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 Mardi Gras is strongly associated with wild bacchanalia and debauchery, but the original intent of the holiday and how it’s kept by the faithful is much different. Fat Tuesday, as it is known in English, is a long-standing tradition of the Catholic Church and it marks the last day of ordinary time before the start of Lent, a time of fasting Mardi Gras became a holiday in 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII placed it on his Gregorian calendar the day before Ash Wednesday. It first appeared in North America in the late 17th century with the LeMoyne brothers' claim on Louisiana. This may certainly be true, but Catholic liturgists identify another link — namely, a time to extend celebrations of the Christmas season until the beginning of Lent. Whatever the case, certain cities around the world (Venice, Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans) have become identified with elaborate civic festivities leading up to Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras was celebrated in Roman Catholic communities in Europe and Latin America before it grew in America. Though the term refers to one specific day, Mardi Gras is not a single-day celebration. In 1921, for example, something called “Mardi Gras” was held in Chilhowee Park, claiming to be one of the biggest parties in Knoxville history—but the fact that it was held in September may undermine its authenticity. The American Legion held a Christmas party in 1935 with a Mardi Gras theme. In 1938, UT students staged a faux Mardi Gras And in a way, maybe that’s for the best. Because while Mardi Gras is usually seen as an American excuse to indulge decadence (as if Americans need an excuse) the holiday’s history might get a rare chance to shine for once. And that history is far more religious than we usually recognize. Mardi Gras is French for ‘Fat Tuesday.’ Latin American Mardi Gras Celebrations. If you celebrate Mardi Gras back home, you know this holiday is full of flashy costumes, savory foods, live music, and all the dancing you can imagine! Like in New Orleans and Venice; Latin American Mardi Gras celebrations also go above and beyond in being memorable to those who attend. When is Mardi Gras? Mardi Gras takes place on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the 40 day period that precedes Easter. As the date of Easter changes each year so does the date of Mardi Gras. The earliest date Mardi Gras can be is Tuesday 3rd February and the latest date is Tuesday March 9th. Mardi Gras is a legal state While one of the most famous Mardi Gras celebrations is in New Orleans, Louisiana, the holiday is celebrated across the globe, from North America, to South America, Europe and Asia. The first Mardi Gras celebration in America was celebrated in 1703 in the settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile. Mardi Gras was celebrated soon after the city of New Orleans was founded in 1718 Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday,” is a traditional holiday celebrated in many Catholic countries around the world. It is typically a day of feasting and revelry before the start of the Lenten season, which is a period of fasting and repentance leading up to Easter. Mardi Gras throws are strings of beads, doubloons, cups, or other trinkets passed out or thrown from the floats in the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the Mobile Mardi Gras and parades all throughout the Gulf Coast of the United States, to spectators lining the streets. The "throws" consist of necklaces of plastic beads, coins called doubloons, which The first Mardi Gras celebration in America was celebrated in 1703 in the settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile. Louisiana is the only state that recognizes Mardi Gras as a legal holiday Mardi Gras is a fundamentally Catholic celebration in which one partakes of indulgences prior to beginning the Lenten period of prayer and fasting. Today, Mardi Gras has been heavily secularized and associated with vice. Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday.
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