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Also known as Three Kings' Day or Twelfth Night, January 6 celebrates the arrival of the three kings at Jesus' birthplace, thus ending the Christmas season. In New Orleans, Carnival begins simultaneously. The festival has its roots in various pagan celebrations of spring, dating back 5,000 years. Pope Gregory XIII made it a Christian holiday when, in 1582, he put it on his Gregorian calendar. He placed Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. That way, all the debauchery would be finished when it came time to fast and pray. "Carnival" derives from a Latin phrase meaning ‘goodbye to the flesh’. Much of the first part of the Carnival season in New Orleans is invitation-only coronation balls and supper dances hosted by private clubs known as krewes. The public portion comes to life a couple of weeks before Mardi Gras when the krewes hit the streets, staging more than 70 parades in metropolitan New Orleans. It is somestimes referred to as " the biggest free show on earth." See the live webcam of New Orleans Uptown Streetcar and Mardi Gras Parades. Mardi Gras Day occurs on Tuesday, March 8 in 2011.
New Orleans Carnival New Orleans’ Carnival celebration includes parades, parties and masquerade balls. Parades bursting with music, floats and masks follow routes through uptown or midtown areas of the city, but not in the French Quarter due to its narrow streets and overhead structures. The parades are organized by krewes, or local clubs, whose members often ride on the floats, tossing “throws” to the onlookers.. King Cakes A traditional Mardi Gras treat, King Cakes are uusally decorated with purple, gold and green (Mardi Gras colors) icing or sprinkles. They are baked with a small trinket inside and the person who receives the prize must host a Mardi Gras party or provide the next King Cake. Paczki Paczki (pronounced poonch-key) are sometimes referred to as the "Cadillacs" of doughnuts. The word paczki (plural; singular is paczek) comes from the Polish word pak, which means "bud." Paczki are circular, like the buds on trees, and they also expand, or grow, when fried. They are fat, round, deep-fried rolls served either plain or filled with fruit or jelly, and then sugar coated. Properly made, they look like huge baseballs. On Paczki Day, or Fat Tuesday (the last day of feasting before Lent), paczki lovers trek to their favorite bakeries for a taste of the sweet pastry. Before refrigerators, paczki were enjoyed as a last-minute fling and a way to use up perishables such as lard, eggs, and cream, which were prohibited during Lent. Although paczki began as a Polish tradition and were brought to the Great Lakes region in the 1900s. their popularity has spread, and they are now a very trendy food served just once a year. Bakers work around the clock to make paczki for customers. Fans of paczki buy them throughout the week before Ash Wednesday, and they are especially popular on Fat Tuesday. They have crossed ethnic boundaries and are now loved by everyone. -- excerpted from I'll
Have What They're Having: Legendary Local Cuisine by Linda Stradley
Official Colors The official colors for New Orleans' Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold. Purple represents Justice, Green represents Faith, Gold stands for Power. The colors were chosen by the King of the Carnival in 1873 and have stood as the colors since then. Lupercalia According to some historians, Mardi Gras has its roots in a mid-February Roman celebration known as Lupercalia which honored the god Lupercus, also known as the god of fertility, as well as the god of agriculture and pastoral shepherds. It is believed that these rituals and festivities welcomed spring’s arrival. Like other Roman and Greek festivals, Lupercalia was adopted by the Catholic Church as a way to subtly convert pagans to Christianity.In adapting the festival to its belief system, the excess and debauchery of Lupercalia festivities began to be seen as s prelude to Lent. The Courir de Mardi Gras A traditional rural celebration dating back to the earliest days of settlement in Cajun Country, the Mardi Gras "courir," or run, is a sort of moving pageant or chase held in many communities of south Louisiana on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Traditions vary from town to town, but most courir begin in the early morning as costumed participants gather at a central location. A designated Le Capitaine (leader of the Mardi Gras) explains the rules and traditions that must be followed. Some towns have riders on horseback, some ride on trailers and some walk or run on foot. Their mission, generally, is to go through the countryside acquiring ingredients for a communal gumbo. Live chickens are often chased through open fields. Some ingredients are begged from local farmers; others are scavenged or "stolen" in mock thievery. The courir usually ends with a feast at the end of the route.
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