2021-02-18 16:46:43
Mardi Gras is more than one day in one city. It’s a statewide celebration, unique to each city and town.
Louisiana’s most iconic celebration! In Louisiana, Carnival celebrations occur statewide for weeks leading up to the pinnacle on Mardi Gras day. Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday,” is the single-day finale of the Carnival season.
Carnival Season runs from Twelfth Night (also called the Epiphany, which is always on January 6th regardless of the date of Mardi Gras), to Fat Tuesday, which is on February 16th in 2021.
You can get into the Mardi Gras mood whenever you visit. In New Orleans, check out the Carnival exhibits at the Louisiana State Museum’s Presbytere and the Backstreet Cultural Museum. Lake Charles’ Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu also houses an incredible collection of costumes.
King Cake
Also debuting on January 6th is the coveted king cake, an oval-shaped, flashy cousin of the cinnamon roll. It is sometimes filled with cream cheese or fruit and topped with a sugary dusting of purple, green and gold — the official colors of Mardi Gras.
PURPLE REPRESENTS JUSTICE
GOLD SIGNIFIES POWER
GREEN STANDS FOR FAITH
A tiny baby figurine is tucked inside each cake, and if it ends up in your slice you buy the next cake. Rules are rules!
Krewe
Krewes, pronounced “crews,” are groups of Mardi Gras paraders. It is believed that the term, krewe, was coined by the Mystik Krewe of Comus, Carnival’s first secret society. Comus was the first krewe to adopt a mythological namesake. Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythologies are the sources of nearly half of the parading krewe names across the state.
Floats
Whether a hand-crafted contraption tugged behind a bicycle or a mammoth work of art sculpted for months by professionals, a float is what carries the krewe down the parade route. Check out New Orleans’ “super krewes” to see enormous floats at Mardi Gras World (open for tours year-round).
Throws
Beads and doubloons (coin-shaped trinkets) are the best-known throws — a catch-all term for any object handed or tossed from a float — but there are many others: painted coconuts, bedazzled shoes and blinking toys that the kids especially love to catch!
Stay up to date on statewide Carnival events by visiting MardiGras.LouisianaTravel.com
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