MARDI GRAS

MARDI GRAS is the elaborate series of outdoor pageants and indoor tableau balls held annually during the winter social season in the United States, especially in New Orleans and Mobile. The carnival culminates on Fat or Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Rooted in European pre-Lenten revelries, the carnival tradition in the United States began in the colonial period and developed in tandem with racial policies and practices and survives as an extravagant spectacle of excess, decadence, and burlesque. The pageants, each sponsored by one of the many exclusive carnival organizations, are based upon themes drawn from mythology, history, or fiction and are often satiric of contemporary social issues.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kinser, Samuel. Carnival, American Style: Mardi Gras at New Orleans and Mobile. Photographs by Norman Magden. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

WalterPrichard

Kristen L.Rouse

See alsoHolidays and Festivals .

Mardi Gras (mär´dē grä), last day before the fasting season of Lent. It is the French name for Shrove Tuesday. Literally translated, the term means "fat Tuesday" and was so called because it represented the last opportunity for merrymaking and excessive indulgence in food and drink before the solemn season of fasting. In the cities of some Roman Catholic countries the custom of holding carnivals for Mardi Gras has continued since the Middle Ages. The carnivals, with spectacular parades, masked balls, mock ceremonials, and street dancing, usually last for a week or more before Mardi Gras itself. Some of the most celebrated are held in New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Nice, and Cologne. For a full discussion of this subject, see carnival.

Mardi gras Community festival or carnival held on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the beginning of Lent, in many Roman Catholic countries, particularly France. In the USA, most notably New Orleans, it includes parades, concerts and dances.

Mardi Gras a carnival held in some countries on Shrove Tuesday, most famously in New Orleans. The (French) phrase means literally ‘fat Tuesday’, alluding to the last day of feasting before the fast and penitence of Lent.

Mar·di Gras / ˈmärdē ˌgrä/ • n. a carnival held in some countries on Shrove Tuesday, most famously in New Orleans.

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