Mardi Gras which is a Christian holiday and a popular cultural festival is celebrated over thousands of years in many parts of the world, particularly by the Roman Catholic population. It takes place on the day before their religious fasting season begins.
Let’s check out some interesting facts about Mardi Gras:
- This year Mardi Gras will fall on Tuesday, February 13, 2018. in Many places, the festival is also known as Shove Tuesday as every year both fall on exactly the same day and follows same traditions.
- The day before the fasting season ‘Lent’ begins is either known as Shove Tuesday or Madi Gras, depending upon the particular region.
- Mardi Gras is a French word which means Fat Tuesday in English. It always
falls on Tuesday and before the Ash Wednesday, the day of Lent. it is the last day of consuming meat and rich, fatty food by the Christian community till Easter Sunday.
- It’s a time of merrymaking and people take this opportunity to hold parties and carnivals. The biggest event, the Mardi Gras Carnival is hosted every year by New Orleans, U.S.
- Main attraction of this spectacular carnival is the annual parades and parties. The costumed, beaded and feathered party begins on Epiphany, the 12th night after Christmas.
- The city clubs organizing the parades are called krewes that sponsor this extravagant street carnival. Every krewe has a secret king and queen whose identities are not revealed until the night of the ball.
- It's a great fun to watch the parade floats passing by and to catch the
colouful beads, doubloons, cups, or other trinkets thrown from the floats.
- Purple, green, and gold are the traditional colours of Mardi Grass beads. Purple represents justice, green represents faith and the gold symbolizes power.
Enjoy Mardi Gras 2018 with your family and don't forget to listen to the
local bands for hire performing live on the streets of New Orleans.
