History and tradition of Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras

Though it is generally thought to be a celebration with roots in Christianity, a celebration similar to Mardi Gras known as Lupercalia was celebrated by the Romans, in which a circus-like festival played a major part (Davis 1997). When the Romans adopted Christianity, many customs and holidays were reappropriated, and it is at this time that celebrations of Carnival, as the holiday was known in France, became a way to let loose before the beginning of Lent (Hall of Festivities). For most people today, the religious aspects and origins of Mardi Gras are not nearly as important as the dancing, costumes, parade, drinking, and beads are as an end in and of themselves, but without the forty-day period of Lent the celebration of Mardi Gras would not have survived the centuries -- millennia, even.

The nineteenth century saw the Mardi Gras celebration banned, but when it were restored in New Orleans in the 1820s it was a great equalizing force, allowing African-Americans -- many of them still slaves -- the freedom to drum and celebrate in ways they were unable to almost anywhere else or at any other time (Carnaval 2000). The celebrations are still a great equalizer, brining together people of all classes and backgrounds in a raucous celebration of life. To enhance these celebrations, many traditions were formed in the New Orleans Mardi Gras that persist to this day. The parade is one of the most well-known, and involves large, colorful floats and crowds of costumed dancers, and of course the traditional flambeaux carriers. These torch bearers used to be slaves and free men of color, and they were necessary to light the parade so that the spectators could see; though less necessary now, it is still custom to toss them coins for their troubles as they dance and cavort alongside the parade with tall torches, bringing not just light but the excitement (and danger) of fire to the modern Mardi Gras festivities (New Orleans Tourism Marketing Co. 2009).

One of the most well-known aspects of the modern Mardi Gras celebration is the throwing of beads and other trinkets from the parade krewes (groups and organizations that have floats in the parade) to the crowd of spectators. This was started in 1870 by the Twelfth Night krewe, and was quickly taken up by other groups, each of whom throws their own unique trinkets (Mardi Gras New Orleans 2009). Contrary to popular belief (and wishful thinking) however, the baring of breasts by women to get beads is not actually a part of the Mardi Gras tradition, but is simply the result of a lot of drunken college students losing their inhibitions and doing whatever they can to draw attention to themselves (Mardi Gras New Orleans 2009).