Celebrating Mardi Gras

Do you celebrate Mardi Gras? Around the world, people celebrate in advance of the somber season of Lent. Have you been to one of the cities that have Mardi Gras parades?

What is Mardi Gras? It's the Feast before the Fast. Mardi Gras, which is French for "Fat Tuesday," is the day before Ash Wednesday, also called "Shrove Tuesday," or "Pancake Day". Mardi Gras is the final day of Carnival and the stroke of midnight signals the end of Carnival and the beginning of the Christian liturgicall season of Lent..

Mardi Gras is observed by various locales usually historically associated with Catholic populations.

Image Mardi Gras Float by storyvillegirl

To New Orleanians, "Mardi Gras" refers only to the final and most elaborate day of the Carnival Season; visitors tend to refer to the entire Carnival as "Mardi Gras." Some locals have thus started to refer to the final day of Carnival as "Mardi Gras Day" to avoid confusion.

New Orleans Mardi Gras is often called "the greatest free show on earth". The celebrations draw hundreds of thousands of tourists to the city in addition to the celebrating locals for the parties and parades. Most tourists can be found within the French Quarter, especially Bourbon Street.

As many as 100,000 Mardi Gras revelers are estimated to throng Bourbon Street in New Orleans' historic French Quarter each Fat Tuesday to view often outrageous costume contests and celebrate.

Rio de Janeiro's annual Carnival and Mardi Gras celebrations attract over 500,000 foreign tourists each year.

The cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations, formally known as Shrove Tuesday, include New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Venice, Bahia, and Mazatln. Carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mardi Gras is a time of extravagant fun for European Christians. Mardi Gras celebrations might have their source in the wild springtime orgies of the ancient Romans.

The date can vary from February 3 to March 9.. Like Lent, the date is dependent on the date of Easter.