History Of Mardi Gras
The observance of a "Carnival" before Lent (a Christian symbolic penitence from Ash Wednesday to Easter) is not new. Some scholars have noted similarities between modern Mardi Gras celebrations and Lupercalia, an annual late winter fertility festival in ancient Rome. However, modern Carnival traditions developed in Europe during the Middle Ages (5th century to the 15th century) as part of the ritual calendar of the Roman Catholic Church...the fasting of the 40 days of Lent was preceded by a festival of several days during which time participants put on masks, clothed themselves like spectres and gave themselves up to the celebration...they considered all pleasure allowable.
Today, the Carnival is nothing more or less than a re-creation of the festival of the early Christians who could not forget their pagan festivals. From Rome, the celebration spread to other European countries and finally to America.
Carnival is still observed in many cities but certainly not with the glamour and grandeur that is seen in the New Orleans carnival which had its birth in 1827, when a group of students, recently returned from Paris, donned strange costumes and danced their way through the streets. The students got the idea for their Mardi Gras revelry from the celebrations they had experienced in Paris. The expression Mardi Gras is from the French, meaning Fat Tuesday (aka Shrove Tuesday)
New Orleanians caught the enthusiasm of the youths. Mardi Gras each year saw more and more revelries, culminating in an annual Mardi Gras ball. In 1833 Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville, a rich plantation owner, solicited a large amount of money to help finance an organized Mardi Gras celebration. It was not until 1837 however, that the first Mardi Gras parade was staged...small and crude, but a great success. It continued to grow each year until the Mardi Gras carnival as we know it today was the result.
In 1857, a group of men formed a secret society called the Mystick Krewe of Comus. They knew that Mardi Gras could be preserved with planning, organization and management of the celebrations.The Krewe of Rex formed in 1872 -- principally to entertain the visiting Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff of Russia. Since America didn't have royalty to properly welcome the Grand Duke, the men in Rex created a King "for the day" so the Grand Duke could be royally received. They secretly anointed one of their own to be the King of Carnival. To this day, many parades keep their King's identity a secret until parade day. Rex also selected the official Mardi Gras colors and gave them a meaning: purple = justice, green = faith and gold = power.
The vast majority of people outside of New Orleans believe that the New Orleans Mardi Gras is a celebration spreading over a period of a few days just before Ash Wednesday. In reality the Mardi Gras season begins about two weeks before Fat Tuesday. Almost all businesses are closed for Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) and for Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) itself. People all over the world come to New Orleans to enjoy this extravagant holiday.
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