Mardis Gras

Today is Mardis Gras! Mardis Gras means "Fat Tuesday", in French. The name comes from the ancient custom of parading a fat ox through Paris on this day. The ox was to remind the people that they were not allowed to eat meat during Lent. Lent runs from Ash Wednesday thru Easter Sunday.French people who came to the United States brought the custom of Mardi Gras with them. These days Mardis Gras is a festival, and the most famous festival in the US (and perhaps the world) is at New Orleans, Louisiana. Festivities start in New Orleans each year on January 6, the Twelfth Night feast of the Epiphany -- the day, tradition has it, that the three kings first visited baby Jesus. Families and friends have parties and share “King Cake”. Hidden inside each King Cake is a tiny doll of baby Jesus. Whoever gets the piece of cake with the doll provides the next cake, and so it goes for several weeks, all the way to Fat Tuesday. The date of Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) moves. It can be anywhere between February 3rd and March 9th. The date depends on when Easter falls. Two weeks before Fat Tuesday, the residents of New Orleans start the Mardis Gras parades, and there are about 90 parades in those two weeks. Each parade is sponsored by a club, called a “Krewe”. There are big floats and very fancy costumes and masks and the people who ride on the floats throw out trinkets, like beads and toy coins. Mardis Gras ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday. The next day is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Adventure Dog and I are having a lot of fun at Mardis Gras with some good friends. There are lots of people at the parades and everyone holds their arms up in the air so we can catch the beads and toys. They even throw out little stuffed creatures and animals just about Adventure Dog's size. Our favorite Krewe is the "Krewe d'Etat" and we caught lots and lots of good stuff.