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Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is a two week festival before Lent celebrated with parades, balls, and concerts. Key traditions include parading krewes that organize events, using the colors purple, green, and gold, selecting royalty for parades, wearing masks, throwing beads and doubloons from floats, eating king cakes, having Mardi Gras Indians tribes, and using flambeaux torch bearers in early parades.

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26 views14 pages

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is a two week festival before Lent celebrated with parades, balls, and concerts. Key traditions include parading krewes that organize events, using the colors purple, green, and gold, selecting royalty for parades, wearing masks, throwing beads and doubloons from floats, eating king cakes, having Mardi Gras Indians tribes, and using flambeaux torch bearers in early parades.

Uploaded by

mirtakruska444
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Mardi Gras

• Mardi Gras is a holiday before Lent

• It’s the last day of two week festival season

Mardi Gras • The festival is called Carnival or as it’s also


known ‘The Greatest Free Show on Earth’

• You can see parades, shows, balls and concerts


for free

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA


Traditions

• Of all the American cities to throw one last celebration before Lent, New
Orleans is the best known

• Because of it’s carnival on ‘Fat Tuesday’ or ‘Mardi Gras’

• Here is a list of Mardi Gras traditions to enhance your understanding of this


party like

• Krewes, colors, royalty, parades, masks, beads and doubloons, king


cakes, Mardi Gras Indians, Flambeaux
• Mardi Gras krewes are social clubs that
organise parades and balls during carnival
season

• Some krewes have open membership, while


others are highly exclusive or secretive

Krewes • Traditionally, krewes were all male, but the


first all-female krewes began to appear in the
early 1900s

• The two best-known krewes that parade on


Mardi Gras are the Krewe of Rex and the
Krewe of Zulu
Colors
• The official colors of New Orleans
Mardi Gras are purple, green and
gold

• The krewe asked the people of New


Orleans to display the colors

• Purple represents justice, green


represents faith and gold represents
power
Royalty
• Most krewes select a royal party each
year, which consists of a king, queen
and often dukes and maids

• For traditional male krewes, the king is


usually a member of the krewe, while
the queen is often a debutante

• The King of Rex is considered the King


of Mardi Gras, and the leader of the
festival celebrations
Parades • Mardi Gras balls and
parties were held in New
Orleans as early as the
mid-1700s

• The first documented


parade in the city did not
occur until 1837

• This first parade more


resembled a procession of
revelers in costume than it
did the large, organized
parades of today
Masks
• In the early days of Mardi Gras,
participants wore masks to escape social
constraints and allow themselves to be
free to mingle with whomever they
chose

• Many krewes wore masks to keep their


identities secret

• Today, any person who rides on a float


during a Mardi Gras parade, other than
celebrities or krewe royalty, is required
by law to disguise his or her face

• Some krewes wear masks, while others


choose to paint their faces
Beads and doubloons
• Beads have been thrown from floats since the
very first parades rolled down the streets of
New Orleans

• First beads were made of glass, but krewes


began throwing plastic beads

• The doubloons were so popular that each


krewe created its own
King cakes
• Traditional New Orleans king cakes are
decorated with purple, green and gold
sugar icing

• They may be plain or filled with fruit,


pecans or cream cheese

• A plastic baby is placed inside the cake,


and tradition dictates that whoever is
given the piece with the baby inside
must buy the next cake or throw the next
party
• Before New Orleans had electric street lights, slaves
or free people of color walked in front of floats
carrying large torches so that revelers could see the
parades that rolled at night

• Today, some krewes still roll with the flambeaux,


but their purpose is to entertain rather than light the
Flambeaux way

• Typically, the flambeaux dance with their torches,


to the delight of many spectators

• Today, the flambeaux are a beloved part of the


Mardi Gras tradition
• Mardi Gras Indians may be one of the most
mysterious aspects of New Orleans Mardi
Gras

Mardi Gras Indians • Tribes were formed by African American


communities who were excluded from
traditional parades and krewes

• They typically poke fun at krewe royalty and


governing structures
Fun facts about Mardi
Gras

• Mardi Gras Indians suits are hand-sewn with


thousands of beads and take all year to make. A
new suit is made each year

• Krewes choose a different theme for their parades


each year, with some krewes keeping their themes
secret until their parade is rolling

• “Throw me something, Mister” are the magic words


used to catch all the throws at Mardi Gras parades

• Float riders are required by law to wear masks or


face paint
Thank you for your attention
Mirta Lemac, 7.b

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