Mardi Gras is a festive day celebrated in France on Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday), which marks the close of the pre-Lenten season. The French name Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, from the custom of using all the fats in the home before Lent. The festival of Mardi Gras comes before the Roman Catholic season of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days that ends with Easter. Mardi Gras is also known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. The name Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday.” It comes from the fact that the festival takes place on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. At the Carnival parade in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, demon masks are worn and large bells clanged to drive out evil spirits and announce the end of winter. In the United States, the principal Carnival celebration is New Orlean’s Mardi Gras festivities. Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, from the custom of using all the fats in the home before Lent. Mardi Gras is a celebration of life’s excesses before the austerity of the season of Lent. The duration of the carnival season varies according to national and local traditions. In Germany the pre-Lenten celebration, called Fasching, either begins at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (November 11 at 11 am ) or on Twelfth Night 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 (UK: / ˌ m ɑːr d i ˈ ɡ r ɑː /, US: / ˈ m ɑːr d i ɡ r ɑː /; [1] [2] also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. [3] The History of New Orleans Mardi Gras . Although the date of the first organized celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans is debatable, the 1730 account of one Marc-Antoine Caillot (a young clerk sent to Louisiana by the French Company of the Indies) mentions a celebration with music and dance, mask-wearing and costumes—including cross-dressing. Home All Good Facts One Good Fact about Mardi Gras February 21, 2023 . Share History at your fingertips offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. From high-energy parades to colorful beads and masks, there are dozens of traditions involved in Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. The holiday which is less than a week away, is just ahead of On March 2, 1699, French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville arrived at a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans, and named it "Pointe du Mardi Gras" when his men realized it was the eve of the festive holiday. Bienville also established "Fort Louis de la Louisiane" (which is now Mobile) in 1702. Shrove Tuesday is the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent in Western Christian churches) and is celebrated as the last day before the Lenten fast. Once associated with the confession of sins before Lent, the day acquired the character of a carnival in many places and is commonly observed by eating pancakes or other sweet foods. A Mardi Gras Indian takes part in a parade in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Mardi Gras Indians are African Americans who dress in elaborately decorated costumes that honor Native Americans for their role in helping Blacks escape slavery in the 19th century. The costumes can take a whole year to create. King cake is a sweet, ring-shaped pastry that is served from Epiphany through Shrove Tuesday in the Christian calendar. It is associated with Mardi Gras, the festive pre-Lenten season in the United States, and it is usually baked with a symbolic trinket hidden inside, often to represent the baby Jesus. New Orleans - French Quarter, Jazz, Mardi Gras: The decision to found New Orleans, or Nouvelle-Orléans, was made in Paris in 1717 by John Law’s Company of the West, which had taken control of Louisiana that year. The colony’s new proprietors envisioned New Orleans (named for the French regent, Philippe II, duc d’Orléans) as a “port of deposit,” or transshipment centre, for future Other articles where Mardi Gras is discussed: Creedence Clearwater Revival: demanded greater prominence, resulting in Mardi Gras (1972), which was dominated by their songs. Its critical and commercial failure led to the band’s demise later that year. Unlike many 1960s acts, Creedence never staged a reunion. Tom Fogerty pursued a solo career until his death. Cook and Clifford worked as Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday," according to Britannica. Historically, on Mardi Gras, The first Mardi Gras in the U.S. took place on March 3, 1699, the History Channel reports Other articles where Mardi Gras is discussed: Edmund Goulding: The 1950s: Goulding’s last film was Mardi Gras (1958), a musical starring Pat Boone. After suffering several years of declining health, Goulding died in 1959. Carnival, the merrymaking and festivity that takes place in many Roman Catholic countries in the last days and hours before the Lenten season, during which Roman Catholics in earlier times fasted, abstained from eating meat, and followed other ascetic practices. The historical origin of Carnival is obscure. From high-energy parades to colorful beads and masks, there are dozens of traditions involved in Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. The holiday which is less than a week away, is just ahead of Flambeaux: It’s a Mardi Gras tradition that has become revered as an art form today, having blossomed well beyond the practical purpose it first served. Over the past century and a half, city infrastructure has evolved, and Mardi Gras parades incorporate more high-tech LED lighting.
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