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Since its first impromptu celebrations in the early 1700's, Mardi Gras was regularly cancelled or banned for its destructive drunken parties—that is until 1837, when a secret society known as ...
In 1699, Mardi Gras is said to have made its way to North America, thanks to French-Canadian explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville. He settled down near present-day New Orleans and brought the ...
Mardi is the French word for Tuesday, and gras means "fat." This name comes from the custom of eating all the fatty, rich foods in the house prior to Lent in order to prepare for fasting and ...
Mardi Gras (UK: / ˌ m ɑːr d i ˈ ɡ r ɑː /, US: / ˈ m ɑːr d i ɡ r ɑː /; [1] [2] also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. [3]
In 1856, 21 businessmen gathered at a club room in the French Quarter to organize a secret society to observe Mardi Gras with a formal parade. They founded New Orleans' first and oldest krewe, the Mistick Krewe of Comus. According to one historian, "Comus was aggressively English in its celebration of what New Orleans had always considered a ...
Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a sedate French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers, [3] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiane, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
The famous New Orleans celebration of Mardi Gras has a rich history. Learn Mardi Gras facts and the origins of the holiday's traditions such as beads, masks, and king cake.
Mystick Krewe of Comus's initial invitation for members Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville. Building on the initial work of what French Creole American nobleman, and playboy, Bernard de Marigny had done in 1833, funding and organizing the first official Mardi Gras- a "parade" followed by a tableau ball celebration; [3] [4] [5] in December 1856, six Anglo-American men of New Orleans gathered at ...