Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras/ Shrove Tuesday/ Pancake Day
Some call it the Carnival, and some still associate it with the Christian holiday called Shrove Tuesday; Mardi Gras is the time of gigantic celebrations including parades, private parties and exclusive balls. “Mardi Gras” is a French name meaning “Fat Tuesday” and it was originally associated with the day before Lent that to all Christians was the last opportunity to eat what they like before fasting. Its traditional date falls on the last day before Ash Wednesday, but most cities that celebrate it in the United States and Canada have expanded the period of festivities. The most popular carnival in the world takes place in Rio de Janeiro, but English-speaking countries do not fall far behind.
The holiday in North America is a descendant from the French tradition, because its first celebrations took place after some these European settlers came to the western continent in 1699. They were sent to America in order to claim what was then known as the Louisiane territory; on March 3, the day of Mardi Gras, they camped at today’s Plaquemines Parish and named it “Point du Mardi Gras”. Three years later, one of them founded the city of Mobile, which became the first capital of Louisiana and of Mardi Gras celebrations. The holiday had been very prominent in the region when the capital moved to Biloxi in 1720. Prior to that, the future epicenter of Mardi Gras parades, New Orleans, had been established in 1718. The city’s reputation grew and in 1723 it became the final capital of Louisiana, which from then on proved to organize the most famous celebrations of the holiday. First ones occurred in the 1730s, and in the 1740s Governor Marquis de Vaudreuil created exclusive society balls. Although a “Carnival” reference appeared in writing in 1781, the first full-scale parade was held by the newly established Mistick Krewe Comus society in 1857.
Such secret societies had been known since the first parade in Mobile in 1704; the Société de Saint Louis was founded to be a private celebrations committee, from which the names of all contributors were never revealed. The role of such societies throughout history was to organize colorful parades, throw small gifts to the crowds, or invite prominent people to elegant balls.
In Canada, first such Mardi Gras events took place in 1894 in Québec City, but it did not became an annual observance until 1955, when the first festivities after the war were held. Québec Winter Carnival was established then as the most significant Mardi Gras occurrence in Canada. In 1972,the festival separated its date from Shrove Tuesday and began to close on the Sunday before Lent.
Mardi Gras is a long and festive event in some American and Canadian cities. While Australia celebrates the holiday most vividly on the one day when the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras takes place (a pride parade honoring the LGBTQ+ community), Québec Winter Carnival lasts for entire 17 days. It is the biggest winter festival in the world, featuring a large snowman with a red cap and arrow sash called Bonhomme and annual building and displaying of an ice palace. Mardi Gras is a holiday honoring French historical and cultural roots; many cities in the United States organize big parades and carnival-related events, for example San Francisco, Philadelphia or Portland. The cities that have celebrated Mardi Gras the longest are Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans in Louisiana, Pensacola in Florida and Galveston in Texas. Some of them stretch their festivities even from the Christmas period. The celebration must involve colorful costumes, ball masks, “throws” of gifts, and a lot of sweet and fat food, such as pancakes. At this time, more themed and costume parties are held than usual, and regular citizens participate in a ton of events.
Mardi Gras is a legal holiday only in a few cities in Louisiana; some institutions and businesses tend to close on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday in order to participate in the culminating festivities. The rest of the world, however, does not give days off, though the holiday is increasingly prominent. The colorfulness, liveliness and mystery surrounding multiple social events held during the Carnival period attract masses of people from all continents. Mardi Gras parades and parties relieve the tension and fight with boredom of the working people, giving them an incentive to begin the year with loads of good energy.