Mardi Gras season is officially here. I love this 'Only in Louisiana' holiday, although, if we're being honest, we know that it's celebrated in other locations around the world. (Not like we do it, though - duh.)

If you have a hard time describing what Mardi Gras season is all about to your out of state friends, then Louisiana Travel can help. They have a pretty cool list of the basic essentials of carnival season, and all the things you need to know. Pass it along and enjoy, sha! Is it too early to start screaming 'Throw Me Something Mister!'?

 

  • Mardi Gras is a legal holiday. Yep.
  •  Mardi Gras is not just in New Orleans. Each community, town, and city in Louisiana has their own way to celebrate. There is a huge difference between the traditional 'Courir de Mardi Gras', or 'Chicken Run' in the country, and the beads, glitz, and glamour of city celebrations
  • Why do we throw beads from the floats? Rumor has it that this tradition began in the 1880's when a man dressed as Santa became so wildly popular throwing out strands of beads, that all the other Krewes followed suit. This awesome part of Mardi Gras continues to this day
  •  How many beads and trinkets are actually thrown from Floats during Carnival Season? An estimated 25 million pounds of Mardi Gras items are tossed from floats each year
  • Throws are not just beads and doubloons. There are very cool throws in just about every parade. What's not to love about the coveted coconuts thrown in the New Orleans Zulu parade?
  •  The best parades are not always the biggest. Some of the smaller parades in the smaller cities are pretty awesome and very charming. The riders also tend to throw more!
  • Mardi Gras is a family celebration. There are plenty of family-friendly events around the state
  •  Go to the end of the parade route for the best throws. Riders will be chucking all the last of their beads and doubloons, just to get rid of them before the end
  • Mardi Gras is one day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Carnival season begins on the Feast of Epiphany
  •  We even have Mardi Gras Parades for our dogs. Yep, pretty awesome
  • The official sweet treat of Mardi Gras is King Cake. The traditional colors of purple, green and gold are always represented somewhere on the cake.

 

 

 

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