Mardi Gras, USA

When: Early January Where: New Orleans 

Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) in New Orleans, Louisiana, is one of the most famous Carnival celebrations in the world.

The New Orleans Carnival season, with roots in preparing for the start of the Catholic season of Lent, starts on Twelfth Night (January 6). It is a season of parades, balls (some of them masquerade balls), and king cake parties. It has traditionally been part of the winter social season, at one time closely related to "coming out" parties for young women at débutante balls.

Celebrations are especially concentrated for about two weeks before and through Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. There is usually one major parade each day (weather permitting); many days have several large parades. The largest and most elaborate parades take place the last five days of the season. In the final week of Carnival many events large and small occur throughout New Orleans and surrounding communities.

The parades in New Orleans are organized by Carnival krewes. Krewe float riders toss throws to the crowds; the most common throws are strings of plastic colorful beads, doubloons (aluminium or wooden dollar-sized coins usually impressed with a krewe logo), decorated plastic throw cups, and small inexpensive toys. Major krewes follow the same parade schedule and route each year.

While many tourists center their Mardi Gras season activities on Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, none of the major Mardi Gras parades has entered the Quarter since 1972 because of its narrow streets and overhead obstructions. Instead, major parades originate in the Uptown and Mid-City districts and follow a route along St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street, on the upriver side of the French Quarter.

To New Orleanians, "Mardi Gras" refers to the whole Carnival season; visitors tend to refer to Fat Tuesday as "Mardi Gras." Some locals have thus started to refer to the last two days of Carnival as "Lundi Gras" (Fat Monday) and Fat Tuesday to avoid confusion.