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The holiday of Mardi Gras is celebrated in southern Louisiana, including the city of New Orleans.Celebrations are concentrated for about two weeks before and through Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday (the start of lent in the Western Christian tradition). There will be plenty of parades in New Orleans leading up to Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. on March 4. Mardi Gras is a holiday that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and 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 What is the History of Mardi Gras? Mardi Gras originated in New Orleans the day Iberville stood on our land in 1699. Since then, balls have become a tradition of the season to represent members of society. From the past to the present, Mardi Gras is full of traditions. Mardi Gras balls began in the 1700s and still exist today. 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 New Orleans was established in 1718 by Bienville. By the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New Orleans, but not with the parades we know today. In the early 1740s, Louisiana's governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, established elegant society balls, which became the model for the New Orleans Mardi Gras balls of today. Mardi Gras Past and Present Traditions from the past that live on today. Mardi Gras has been celebrated in New Orleans since the explorer Iberville first set foot here on Mardi Gras Day 1699. In French colonial days, wealthy members of Creole society threw lavish Mardi Gras balls from Twelfth Night (Jan. 6) to Fat Tuesday Eve. New Orleans is cranking up the volume for Mardi Gras 2025, and there’s excitement in the air for what is often hailed as the greatest free show on earth. This iconic festival, culminating on Tuesday, March 4, is deeply rooted in Christian and Roman Catholic traditions but has evolved into a secular celebration. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a one to a three-month stretch of the year in which the streets come alive with music, art, and costumed revelers. Beginning on Twelfth Night, January 6, the best season of the year is upon us: king cake, bead-tossing, and parading begins and only increases as we make our way toward Mardi Gras Day. In French Louisiana, the first recorded celebration of the holiday took place on March 3, 1699, when men accompanying explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville partook of festivities south of present-day New Orleans along the banks of the Mississippi River at a location they named Point du Mardi Gras. After the founding of New Orleans in 1718 Mardi Gras Balls Elegant balls crown new royalty during Carnival. Some of the most glittering spectacles of Mardi Gras happen behind closed doors at grand balls thrown by krewes for their members and lucky guests. Some even consider New Orleans the northernmost Caribbean city. So, don your Mardi Gras beads, grab your go-cup and dive in for a full-on sensory onslaught. Book your holiday to New Orleans Our cheapest holidays to New Orleans. RT. RT. RT. RT. Per person, Per person, Per person, Per person, Per person. Per person. Find more New Orleans holidays Mardi Gras in New Orleans: what to eat, drink and do. costumes—that rival any other holiday season. Houses are decked out in Mardi Gras purple, green and gold, and those same colors become Mardi Gras Doubloon Learn more about this iconic parade throw. What makes New Orleans Mardi Gras parades unique from— and much more fun than—parades across the country is simple: active crowd participation. Carnival royalty, the queens and kings of Mardi Gras, are a uniting factor of every krewe. Some are New Orleans natives, others are celebrities from afar, but all bring the pomp and circumstance to an otherwise informal time. There’s typically a toast with the Mayor of New Orleans, a key to the city presented, and lots of scepter waiving Laissez les bon temps rouler! New Orleans is always great to visit but Mardi Gras season is special! Make sure to catch the Endymion and Bacchus parades, and the Zulu parade on Mardi Gras day. The 3rd Annual Children’s Hospital New Orleans Holiday Parade will take place Saturday, December 7 starting at 11 a.m. This year, the event, which has been nominated as a Top 10 holiday parade among USA Today readers, is back with a longer route and signature throws. Click on the Mardi Gras krewes below for further information about the krewe and to see their usual route for each parade. Please note: Events and activities are subject to change without notice. Stay tuned to the site for further info. Mardi Gras is about music, parades, picnics, floats and excitement. It's one big holiday in New Orleans! Revelers know to wear costumes or at least dress in purple, green, and gold, and adorn themselves with long beads caught from the floats of previous parades. Mardi Gras Colors. In 1872, Rex, the king of Carnival, proclaimed the official colors of Mardi Gras to be purple, green and gold. While Arthur Hardy believes they were probably chosen simply because they looked good together, Rex assigned a meaning to the colors in his 1892 parade titled Symbolism of Colors: Purple represents justice, green stands for faith, and gold signifies power.
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