Feature

Mardi Gras: The truth about the popular celebration

By Heather Shaffer - Editor-in-Chief

      Mardi Gras is one of those holidays that most people have heard about, but surprisingly it is often misunderstood.
Contrary to popular belief, Mardi Gras (meaning Fat Tuesday in French) is the term that refers to only the day before the Christian holiday Ash Wednesday. According to the website www.martigras.com, most people use to term “Mardi Gras’ to encompass the entire celebration know as Carnival.
Carnival, which is Latin for “kiss the flesh goodbye”, refers to the long period between Christmas and the Christian fast of Lent. Carnival officially begins in New Orleans on the Feast of Epiphany or Twelfth Night, Jan. 6, and continues until the day before Ash Wednesday. This year, Fat Tuesday falls on Feb. 8, 2005.
Mardi Gras Day could occur as early as Feb. 3 or as late as March 9, depending on the calendar date of the Easter holiday.
However, according to mardigras.com, this is merely a technicality. Most New Orleans locals refer to the entire period between the holiday season and Lent as Marti Gras.
The Carnival season is marked by numerous parades with floats, pageants, elaborate costumes and even masked balls.
Most New Orleans natives would agree that the weekend before Fat Tuesday is the optimal time to experience Mardi Gras. The most parades and celebrations occur during this time period.
The official colors of Mardi Gras are purple, gold and green. According to mardigras.com, the colors were chosen in 1872 because they looked good together. Twenty years later, they were given meaning: purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.
These colors are not hard to spot, as waves of purple, gold and green beads flood Bourbon Street. Though I’m sure everyone has heard the rumors about the best way to receive beads during the festivities, martigras.com states that the best way to acquire beads is to stand along the parade routes. Many parade participants throw armfuls of beads to the crowds throughout the entire route.
According to mardigras.com, some believe that Carnival has roots in the pagan end-of-winter, beginning-of-spring celebrations dating back thousands of years.
These festivals, containing promiscuous activities, existed across most lands that were being taken over by the Catholic Church. According to mardigras.com, the Church decided to place limits on these celebrations—they could not start until after Christmas and had to end the day before Ash Wednesday.
Some scholars have noted similarities between modern Mardi Gras celebrations and Lupercalia, a fertility festival held each February in ancient Rome, according to MSN Encarta. However, these scholars believe that modern Carnival traditions developed in Europe during the Middle Ages as part of the ritual calendar of the Roman Catholic Church.
According to MSN Encarta, pre-Lenten Carnivals are celebrated predominantly in Roman Catholic communities in Europe and the Americas. Cities famous for their celebrations include Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
New Orleans holds the most famous Mardi Gras celebration in the United States. Residents of New Orleans have been celebrating Mardi Gras since the 18th century. Mobile, Ala., has a lesser known but equally old Mardi Gras tradition, according to MSN Encarta.
Mardi Gras celebrations occur informally in many other U.S. cities. For a taste of Mardi Gras a little closer to home, UIS students could visit the celebrations in St. Louis.

Mardi Gras: The truth about the popular celebration