Who Is Ready For The Mardi Gras In New Orleans

One thing is for sure, you are going to find it very difficult to find more fun, more excitement, more celebrations and more colorful costumes than the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This event, also known as Fat Tuesday allows people to indulge before the start of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

The Mardi Gras is French in origin and can be traced all the way back to somewhere in the Middle Ages. It was the Frenchman, Iberville, who bought the Mardi Gras name to Louisiana, when he came ashore around sixty miles from what we now know as New Orleans. He called that particular place, Point du Mardi Gras. For one reason or another it wasn't until 1823 that the first serious Mardi Gras celebration, as we know it today anyway, occurred with parties and great merriment being a hallmark from the beginning. The Mardi Gras has really thrived from the beginning of the 20th Century and this huge carnival just keeps getting bigger every year. With much revelry and dancing in the streets, accompanied by beautifully decorated horse drawn carriages and floats, what is there not to like?

What you will find at this outrageous carnival are French royals, showgirls dressed in feathers, painted clowns and bunnies, all parading the streets of New Orleans. You can join in the throngs of people to watch magnificent floats go by, performers performing outrageous tricks and heaps of marching bands and plenty of jazz music to draw you in. You can expect to see more than 350 floats and over 15000 costumes being paraded.

Many famous traditions that are part of Mardi Gras today had their origins from years gone by and one such tradition occurred after a visit by the Russian duke Alexis Romanoff. The Romanoff's bought with them when they came to Mardi Gras their royal house colors of purple, green and gold, which stand for justice, faith and power. These three colours have now been adopted as the official colors of the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Another tradition, which is seen as a big attraction at Mardi Gras, is the throwing of colorful bead necklaces, cups and toy coins from the floats, which people can take home as a souvenir. Many thousands of these are thrown to the crowd each year.

The Mardi Gras is just one big holiday in New Orleans and businesses and roads get shut down so that people can enjoy the excitement.

So who is up for a piece of cake? Not just any cake, I'm talking "King Cakes"! There are over 500,000 king cakes sold each year throughout New Orleans during the Mardi Gras season. This fantastic Mardi Gras treats has also spawn a great export market with 50,000 king cakes being shipped from the city each year. The very best of these king cakes include a small plastic baby doll. The one who gets this particular cake is declared a 'king', but then they also have to shout the next cake!

The Mardi Gras season commences on the 6th of January each year. One of the traditions on this day involves a group called the Phunny Phorty Phellows, which contains about 50 men and women who ride in costumes in a decorated car along St Charles Avenue. The PPP blow loud trumpets, accompanied by a Dixieland band, and can often be seen eating the famous king cake and tossing it to people on the streets.

One can go on talking about the New Orleans Mardi Gras, but you have to be there to experience the magic. It is on the bucket list of things to do for millions of would-be travelers.

FOMO Travel, the events and festival travel specialists, has developed a new site that provides an extensive array of information and advice for the New Orleans Mardi Gras, including travel options, travel tips, party spots and other activities.. This article, Who Is Ready For The Mardi Gras In New Orleans has free reprint rights.