Mardi Gras is usually one of the first things people think of when they think about New Orleans, and it's easy to see why that's so. Nobody on Earth does any sort of celebration quite like it. It's entirely and singularly unique. One thing that's very upsetting, however, is how much it gets twisted by national media and Hollywood. They paint this picture of an all-out freak fest with sex, drug, and alcohol induced chaos that somehow incorporates the throwing of beads and wearing masks--not anything that anyone except drunken college co-eds would have any interest participating in. Please, please, PLEASE release this ridiculousness out of your head! What people show on Girls Gone Wild is a tiny, restricted peek of what happens in a very very SMALL part of the city, and in which locals typically do not participate! It's the drunken co-eds who come in from out-of-town who recreate the pictures they've stolen from raunchy videos that are the main participants in these sorts of activities, and they really have little to nothing to do with actual New Orleans Mardi Gras traditions. So let's break it on down, define Mardi Gras's true purpose, and do some myth busting at the same time.
There are two different myths about the duration of Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras activities. One is that Mardi Gras activities occur non-stop in New Orleans, the other is that Mardi Gras is just one big day with one huge parade. Both of these are off the mark. Yes, Mardi Gras Day is one day, but Mardi Gras is a single day that culminates a larger season of "Mardi Gras" activities. This season is called Carnival. Carnival comes from Latin meaning "Farewell to the Flesh". Carnival is a pre-season to Lent, which is a pre-season to Easter, the Christian celebration of Jesus' rising from the dead. The date of Easter (according to the Catholic calendar) is set as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. Lent is a forty day period (not counting Sundays... so actually 47 days) of penance and fasting that is meant to be preparation for Easter. Part of fasting used to include not eating meat for the entire duration of Lent (which has been reduced to Fridays only). The starting day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday, a day on which Catholics fast and go to Church to have ashes placed on our foreheads to remind us of our own mortality and need for repentance. The day before Ash Wednesday is called Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French), the last day to really feast before the fasting of Lent. The days leading up to the end of meat-eating are what make up the Carnival Season. Hence, the title "Farewell to the Flesh". So yes, Mardi Gras is actually a religious holiday.
Carnival always begins on January 6, the feast of the Epiphany, also called "King's Day" or "Twelfth Night" (because it's twelve days after Christmas... know the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas"... yes, this is what it's referring to). This is the day, according to tradition, that Three Kings (or Three Wisemen) came to visit and bring gifts to Jesus. However, because Easter moves (refer above to the date based on the Equinox explanation) and Mardi Gras is connected to the 47 days preceeding Easter, Mardi Gras Day can be anytime from the beginning of February to the beginning of March. Carnival Season, therefore, can last anywhere from one month to two months.
So what kind of things go on during this season? Well, starting on King's Day, bakeries around the city begin to sell a very unique dessert known as.... [drumroll] KING CAKE!! King Cake is a circular cake that tastes a lot like cinnamon rolls. It has icing and/or sprinkles usually in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold. Hidden inside the cake is a little plastic baby. Friends get together and eat king cake, and as the tradition goes, whoever gets the baby has to buy the next king cake. This is typically done amongst families, co-workers at an office, lunch groups at school, etc. The cake symbolizes the Three Kings' search for the baby Jesus, which is why it's called a king cake. There is one bakery in New Orleans that ONLY makes king cake, and is only open during Carnival Season... Manny Randazzo's... which is, in this New Orleanian's opinion, hands-down the best king cake in the Universe, but everyone has their own favorites. No matter which one, no self-respecting New Orleanian eats king cake outside of Carnival Season.
The other activities that go on during Carnival involve organizations called "krewes". Krewes are private clubs that host Carnival festivities, Carnival Balls and parades. See, there isn't just one general Mardi Gras parade. In fact, the two weeks before Mardi Gras are full of parades, each one thrown by a different krewe. Krewes are named after Greek, Roman, or Egyptian gods, historical figures, or after the neighborhood in which the krewe originated. Each parade has a different theme and each float corresponds to the chosen theme. Like if the theme was "Children's Stories", you could expect to see a Cinderella float, a Peter Pan float... you get the idea. Anyone and everyone can head out on the street to watch a parade. Many parades roll along a standardized route, although there are a few krewes that stray slightly. For example, the Krewe of Thoth modifies its route so that they pass in front of Children's Hospital because Thoth does a lot of charity work for Children's Hospital. Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide, which comes out every Mardi Gras season gives a preview of all the parades and posts their routes. It's a great resource for both tourists and locals. There are some krewes that only stage a parade while many have both a parade and a Ball, but there are many krewes that only stage a Ball.
Carnival Balls are a side of Mardi Gras that few tourists get to see. That's because typically, you have to know someone in the krewe to be invited to one. The superkrewes (designated by the immense size of their parade and that celebrities are featured in them) have Balls that feature multiple well known bands and are basically all-night concerts (except everyone is in tuxes and evening gowns), and you can buy invitations to their Balls from their websites. While these are awesome, they do not reflect the true nature of a traditional Carnival Ball. In a traditional "Bal Masque", members of the krewe (and family and friends) are chosen to become the krewe's royal court for that year. This usually consists of a king and queen along with maids and dukes. Methods of choosing the court, the size of the court, and the actual titles of court members vary from krewe to krewe. The costumes also usually go along with the krewe's theme for that year. Members of the court are presented around a dance floor so that krewe members and guests may oooh and ahhh over their costumes. This part of the Ball is called the "tableau". Following the presentation is a supper-dance, where everyone eats dinner and then parties the rest of the night. Some krewes hold their tableaus on different nights from their supper dance while some have their supper dance immediately following the tableau. Carnival Balls are extravagent, extremely formal events, and they're AWESOME!! Don't worry. I'm gonna do a whole post on them later on. While parades are pretty much confined to the two weeks prior to Mardi Gras, Carnival Balls are going on pretty much the entire Carnvial Season.
There is one more aspect of Carnival that you may have heard of, and I will now finish up this post with the little that I can tell you about them... the Mardi Gras Indians. Mardi Gras Indians are not actual Native Americans. They are African Americans who dress as Native Americans in beautiful, extremely elaborate costumes, which they call simply... "suits." They are organized into groups called tribes, each of which has a "Chief" as their leader. Mardi Gras Indians do not participate in regular parades. They have their own marching parades on Mardi Gras through their neighborhoods. They don't ever have published routes or even a regular schedule... so if you want to see Mardi Gras Indians on Mardi Gras Day, you have to go out and search for them, and typically in areas that are not always extremely safe. Mardi Gras Indians keep very much to themselves and don't really communicate to the media so finding them and seeing their activities is a rare treasure. Yet, the interesting thing is that most of the music that is played widely in the city that's branded "Mardi Gras music" is music about the Mardi Gras Indians.
So if you're planning a Mardi Gras trip, don't think you need to be college co-ed to enjoy it! It's for families and people of all ages! If you want to see the bigger parades and heavier partying, come the weekend before Mardi Gras, and you'll have blast! If you're new to the holiday and are looking for something a little more low key, come to New Orleans two weekends before Mardi Gras, you'll still see parades and participate in all the excitement of Carnival, but with less crowds and chaos. So don't believe everything you see on TV! Mardi Gras is amazing and something that everyone from anywhere can enjoy!
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