(CNN)Here’s a look at Mardi Gras, a celebration that takes place the day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.
March 1, 2022 – Carnival (Fat Tuesday).
6th January – Carnival celebrations begin on this date every year and last until midnight on Mardi Gras.
facts
Mardi Gras, French for Shrove Tuesday, is also known as Shrove Tuesday.
Mardi Gras Day is the last day of the Carnival season.
Carnivals include balls, parties, and parades with floats and costumed dancers.
The colors of Mardi Gras are purple (justice), gold (power), and green (faith).
Social clubs called “Krewes” organize the parades and host balls and parties.
During the parades, Krewe members toss a variety of trinkets to spectators, including strings of beads, doubloons, mugs, and stuffed animals.
Aside from the krewes, longstanding New Orleans Black Mardi Gras traditions include street parades by Mardi Gras Indians, Baby Dolls, and the Northside Skull and Bone Gang.
Mardi Gras is a public holiday in 29 communities in Louisiana and two counties in Alabama. It is a Florida public holiday for all counties with carnival associations and may be declared a public holiday by Mississippi counties in lieu of another state holiday.
timeline
1703 – The first Mardi Gras celebration takes place in Mobile, Alabama.
1837 – First recorded Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.
1857 – Floats make their first appearance in New Orleans parades.
1896 – The first female krewe, Les Mysterieuses, throws a ball but doesn’t parade.
1916 – The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, the first African-American kru, is formed.
1918-1919 – Mardi Gras parades and balls are canceled due to World War I and the flu pandemic.
1941 – Venus is the first all-female krewe to parade in New Orleans.
1942-1945 – Official Mardi Gras celebrations are canceled for the duration of World War II.
1973 – Zulu becomes the first parade krewe to racially integrate its members.
1992 – The New Orleans City Council passes an ordinance prohibiting discrimination in membership of parading Mardi Gras krewes. Three Krus interrupt their parades to protest the push for integration.
2004 – Conde Explorers will become the first integrated parade company in Mobile.
2017-2018 – Due to excessive flooding and clogged storm drains, the city of New Orleans removed more than 93,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads from a five-block stretch of city drains. In all, the Department of Public Works collected more than 45 million tons of beads. Ahead of the 2019 Mardi Gras celebration, the city installed “Gutter Buddies” to prevent beads from entering sewers.
2021 – Mardi Gras parades are not permitted due to the coronavirus pandemic, but as Mardi Gras is a religious holiday it cannot be cancelled. According to the Krew of House Floats website, more than 2,600 New Orleans residents are joining the Krewe of House Floats and turning their homes into stationary versions of floats to celebrate safely.
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