What does Mardi Gras day look like in New Orleans? Here's the view from Fat Tuesday. (2024)

FAQs

Does Fat Tuesday kick off Mardi Gras? ›

Easter can fall on any Sunday between March 23 and April 25, so Mardi Gras can be any day from February 3 to March 9. While Mardi Gras's biggest and final celebration arrives on Fat Tuesday (February 13 this year), the Carnival season always begins on Epiphany, which is always on January 6.

Mardi Gras, festive day celebrated in France on Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday), which marks the close of the pre-Lenten season. The French name Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, from the custom of using all the fats in the home before Lent in preparation for fasting and abstinence.

Mardi Gras Day - also known as Fat Tuesday - marks the final day of Carnival Season! It is always the day before Ash Wednesday, and is the biggest day of celebration during Mardi Gras. Zulu and Rex parades roll, but other parties and city-wide celebrations occur as well.

The last day of Shrovetide, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), is named as such "because people felt bloated having eaten up all the rich foods before Lent" in order to prepare for the coming season of repentance.

At the center of local parading customs is the peculiar term “krewe” itself. A krewe is, simply, a club or organization that exists to celebrate Carnival. But while a krewe has royalty, the positions of king and queen are merely ceremonial.

Fat Tuesday is the great feast before Lenten fasts begin. Traditionally, Catholics have embraced Fat Tuesday as a way to get rid of all the fats and desserts in the house in preparation for Lent. With these tempting goodies already consumed, it's easier to more fully engage in Lent and experience spiritual growth.

Rex introduced the trio in 1872 and later assigned each a meaning: gold for power, green for faith and purple for justice. Why they were originally chosen is up for debate. Some claim these were the royal colors of Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff and honored his visit to New Orleans at Mardi Gras in 1872.

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans bade a typically joyous goodbye to Carnival season Tuesday with Mardi Gras parades, street parties and what amounted to a massive outdoor costume festival around the bars and restaurants in the French Quarter.

There are fasting guidelines on Ash Wednesday and throughout Lent, but Fat Tuesday generally does not have restrictions on what to eat.

Arthur Hardy, a world-renowned expert on Mardi Gras and a fifth-generation New Orleanian, told Newsweek: "Mardi Gras is French and translates as Fat Tuesday, so called because it represents the last day to feast before the fasting of Lent which starts the next day, Ash Wednesday."

How do you greet someone on Fat Tuesday? ›

Happy Fat Tuesday! Let the good times roll!

Mardi Gras is the time of festivity and feasting leading up to Lent (the 40-day period of fasting and abstaining before Easter Sunday) so it's customary to celebrate with pull-out-the-stops meals and plenty of King Cake.

Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”) is the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. In times of greater Lenten austerity in Catholic countries, Mardi Gras offered an opportunity for households to consume some foods they would not enjoy until Easter.

Carnival, Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday

-The name “Shrove Tuesday”, comes from the practice of “shriving”— confessing ones sins—prior to Lent. For many Christians, Shrove Tuesday is a time to receive penance and absolution. – In French, Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday.” (Mardi/Tuesday and gras/fat.)