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When Is Mardi Gras?

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The fluctuating date of Mardi Gras was established by the Catholic Church which designed the Gregorian calendar with a fixed date for Christmas but with moveable dates for other religious holidays. Easter, which can fall on any Sunday from March 23 to April 25, is set to happen on the first Sunday after the full moon that follows the Spring Equinox.

Mardi Gras is always scheduled 46 days preceding Easter (the 40 days of Lent plus six Sundays). The carnival season officially opens on the Epiphany twelve days after Christmas and ends on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras Day), the day before Ash Wednesday.

Lafayette's Mardi Gras

by the Lafayette, LA "Advertiser," January 5, 1997

Parade in Jennings During the weeks before Mardi Gras, Lafayette's civic and carnival organizations ring in the season with formal balls sponsored by carnival krewes who choose their own kings and queens.

The Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Association Pageant and Ball, held Mardi Gras night at the Heymann Center for the Performing Arts, is the only ball open to the general public. Tickets to the pageant and ball are free and may be obtained at the Lafayette Visitor Information Center, the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and at the Heymann Center for the Performing Arts Box Office.

The first formal Mardi Gras ball and parade in Lafayette dates back to 1869. In 1897, King Attakapas, the first Mardi Gras king, was crowned and the first organized parade was held in Lafayette. King Attakapas rode into Lafayette on a Southern Pacific train, which had been decorated to look like a royal throne, then proceeded to lead the Mardi Gras parade.

Formal Mardi Gras balls and parades after 1897 seemed to come and go until 1934 when the Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Association was formed by representatives from civic and service organizations to ensure that Lafayette would always have a Mardi Gras celebration.

Today as in 1934, Queen Evangeline and King Gabriel, who symbolize the Acadian sweethearts separated during the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in Longfellow's Evangeline, are reunited each year at Mardi Gras to rule over the Mardi Gras festivities.

Acadiana's Courir de Mardi Gras

by the Lafayette, LA "Advertiser," January 5, 1997

The rural Mardi Gras celebration, the Courir de Mardi Gras, dates back to the earliest days of the area's settlement and is still considered a rite of passage for many young men of the area.

In the small towns of Eunice, Church Point, Ville Platte, Iota, Elton, and Mamou, you can still see and participate in the Mardi Gras traditions that have been followed for hundreds of years.

With its roots firmly in the medieval tradition of ceremonial begging, bands of masked and costumed horseback riders roam the country side "begging" for ingredients for their communal gumbo. "Le capitaine," a caped but unmasked captain, stops his revellers at a distance while he approaches with a white flag and asks permission for his riders to enter the owners' property.

If permission is granted, the captain lowers his white flag and the riders charge towards the house. There, they dismount and proceed to dance and sing for live chickens and other donations such as rice, onions, and flour to be used in the gumbo. The captain and his group of masked riders return to town in the late afternoon with their loot. The day's festivities usually end with a fais-do-do (dance) and lots of gumbo for Mardi Gras revellers.

Courir in Mamou

Mardi Gras Basics

Author Unknown

Mardi Gras came to Louisiana through its French heritage in 1699. Early explorers celebrated this French Holiday on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Meaning "Fat Tuesday," Mardi Gras is always the Tuesday 46 days before Easter and the day before Ash Wednesday. The date can fall between February 3 and March 9.
Carnival refers to the season of revelry before Mardi Gras. It begins officially on Jan. 6, which is known as Twelfth Night or Kings' Day, so named because it falls 12 days after Christmas on the day the Wise Men are said to have reached Bethlehem.
Carnival celebrations fall into two categories: public and private. The private celebrations are balls, held by clubs called krewes. Some krewes let anyone join, while others are exclusive.
The public celebrations take the form of parades, sponsored by the same krewes that hold the balls for members only. Not every krewe has a parade, although every krewe will throw a party for its members. In New Orleans, a few krewes allow the public to buy tickets to their balls — Endymion and Orpheus, for example — but about seventy groups in a four-parish area around New Orleans hold parades.
Parades consist of anywhere from 10 to 40 floats carrying krewe members, marching bands, dance groups, costumed characters and the like. Every parade has a theme, usually borrowed from mythology, history or Hollywood. Most parades have mock royalty, kings and queens and dukes and duchesses, either drawn from the ranks of the krewe's members or celebrities. Some parades are small and suburban, others downtown and lavish. All parade riders throw trinkets (called "throws") — beads, doubloons, small toys, candy — from the floats to the crowds.
The colors of Carnival are purple, green and gold, chosen in 1872 by that year's Rex. They were probably originally selected simply because they look good together. The 1892 Rex parade, entitled "Symbolism of Colors," gave the official colors meaning: purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.
The one ubiquitous food of the Carnival season is the king cake. Sweet roll-like dough is shaped into a big circle, cooked and brushed with purple, green and gold sugar or icing. Then a plastic baby, representing the Christ child, is tucked inside. Whoever gets the piece of cake containing the baby must, by tradition, provide the next king cake.
Traditionally, the term Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday refers to the Roman Catholic religious holiday which occurs on the eve of the Lenten season, a time of sacrifice and fasting for Catholics. Historically many Catholic cultures have developed a celebration of merrymaking before entering the Lenten season which begins on Ash Wednesday. This time of celebration has evolved into the Mardi Gras carnival season that is celebrated today.
ASH WEDNESDAY - the day after Mardi Gras and the first day of Lent. In Louisiana, many Catholics attend Mass and receive an ashen cross on their foreheads to symbolize mortality.
BALL (ball masque, tableau ball) - a themed masked ball, where the krewe royalty is presented to the club members.
BOEUF - a large bull or ox, which represents the ancient symbol of the last meal before the Lenten season of fasting.
CALL-OUTS - individuals called out from the audience to dance with krewe members during a ball. They receive small gifts called "favors" from their dance partners. At some balls, general dancing follows the call outs.
CAPTAIN - this is the leader of each Carnival organization.
CARNIVAL - the season, stretching traditionally from January 6 (Twelfth Night) to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday — the day before Lent). All parades, balls and other events during this period are Carnival events. Technically, only events on Fat Tuesday itself are Mardi Gras events. The term carnival means "removal of the flesh," the flesh in this case being the meat that is forsaken for Lent.
CARNIVAL DAY - same as Mardi Gras, the last day of Carnival.
COLORS OF CARNIVAL - purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.
COURT - the king, queen, maids, dukes and other mock royalty of a Carnival organization.
DEN - this is the location where the floats are built and stored, often a large warehouse.
DOUBLOONS - silver-dollar-sized, commemorative, aluminum coins minted for and given out by Carnival organizations. Doubloons usually bear the krewe's crest on one side and the parade's theme on the other. Rex threw the first one from a float in 1960. Earlier such medals were heavier and awarded as ball favors.
FAVORS - these are souvenirs given to friends or guests attending the krewe's ball by the members.
FLAMBEAUX (plural) - naphtha/kerosene-fueled torches, which used to be the only source of light along the parade routes. Now they are carried along as part of the parade.
INVITATION - the printed request for attendance to a Carnival ball.
FLOATS - any decorated, movable platform for carrying Carnival maskers. In some cases, particularly among newer, less affluent or smaller krewes, floats are used in more than one parade.
KING CAKE - a sweet-roll-like cake made in a ring. It contains a plastic doll, and the person who finds the doll in his or her piece of cake must provide the king cake on the next occasion. Originally baked in 12th century France on the eve of January 6 to celebrate the visit to the Christ Child by the three Kings, it was brought by French settlers to Louisiana in the 1700s where it remained associated with the Epiphany until the 19th century when it became a more elaborate Mardi Gras custom. In New Orleans, the first cake of the season was served on January 6 and a small ceramic figurine of a baby was hidden in the cake. Whoever found the baby was allowed to choose a mock court and host the next King Cake party the following week (weekly cake parties were held until Mardi Gras). King cakes are available at bakeries all over South Louisiana, but only January 6 through Mardi Gras Day.
KREWE - A Mardi Gras Krewe is the membership organization for a parade. Krewes also get together throughout the year for the Coronation Ball (where the Maids, Dukes and King are announced) and Mardi Gras Ball or Tableau (where the Krewe usually appear in their parade costumes). Undisputed as the favorite event of the Krewes is the parade itself, where riders throw trinkets to throngs of people calling, "Throw me something, mister!" First used by the Krewe of Comus in 1857 to name a Carnival organization, "krewe" is now applied to most organizations participating in Carnival. These parading organizations are NOT called krewes: Rex, Bacchus, Knights of Babylon, Knights of King Arthur, Corps de Napoleon, Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club.
LUNDI GRAS (French for Fat Monday) - the day before Fat Tuesday.
MARDI GRAS - Fat Tuesday. The Carnival celebration ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday.
MARDI GRAS INDIANS - groups of black men in New Orleans dressed as representations of American Indians. They are outfitted with elaborate feathered costumes full of color.
MASKERS - a term referring to both the float riders, who normally are masked, and those who costume for Mardi Gras.
PARADE - a procession of floats, marching bands, dance groups, costumed characters, flambeaux carriers and the like, that winds through the city on a prescribed route in the few weeks before Mardi Gras.
REX - Referred to only as "Rex," or as "Rex, king of Carnival," never as the redundant "King Rex" or "King of Rex."
TABLEAU - a "still-life" depiction of a scene by costumed krewe members, presented at a Carnival ball before the dancing begins. It is based on the theme of the ball. The plural is tableaux.
THROWS - inexpensive trinkets tossed from floats by costumed and masked krewe members. The most popular throws include doubloons, plastic cups and plastic Mardi Gras beads (necklaces).
"THROW ME SOMETHING, MISTER" - the traditional cry of parade-goers pleading for throws as the parade floats roll past. The objective is to get the attention of the float riders and get to go home with more throws than anyone else.

For More Information

Thorough Coverage of the Courir de Mardi Gras

Louisiana Calendar of Events