Mardi Gras

Now that I've read the Mardi Gras flyer from the local Wynn-Dixie and attended the Jeanerette Mardi Gras Parade, I can write the following:

Mardi Gras literally means Fat Tuesday and is always the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is the last day of revelry before the forty days of Lent, which ends with Easter Sunday.

The Carnival Season begins January 6, on the Feast of the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night. The origin of the word 'Carnival' is from Latin, meaning "farewell to the flesh," when one is expected to forego earthly pleasures.

The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are: Purple=Justice, Green=Faith and Gold=Power.

The King Cake is an oval-shaped, sweetened, yeast bread covered with sugar topping and decorated in traditional Mardi Gras colors. The colorful topping represents a jeweled crown in honor of the Three Wise Men who visited the Christ Child. Finding the tiny, plastic Baby Jesus inside the King Cake is a sign of (take your pick): 1)You're King/Queen for a year, 2)Good Luck, or 3)You get to buy the next King Cake!

Every Louisiana town has a Mardi Gras parade. Cities generally have more than one, often three or four. New Orleans has too many parades to count. Jeanerette is about nine miles northwest of Baldwin and held its parade today. (Baldwin's parade is next Saturday.). If Jeanerette is typical, Mardi Gras parades are mostly about the beads. Truck after truck, car after car and float after float carried people who were tossing strings of beads to the parade watchers. Head Start had several princes and princesses, social clubs had several kings and queens; all of them were tossing out beads. Their drivers were throwing bead necklaces as well. People ran out into the street with shopping bags to pick them up. There was some candy, but mostly it was all about beads. There were metal beads, plastic beads, small beads, large and jumbo beads, round beads, long, shaped and patterned beads. The only people not involved with beads were the bands, drill teams, dancers and baton twirlers, and they were stepping on and around the unclaimed beads. I think the importance of Mardi Gras here eclipses Christmas. It was quite the happy cultural event. I'm glad I went.