Celebrating Mardi Gras

Posted by on Feb 23, 2012 in Fun in PJs | No Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mardi Gras is a time for fun and celebration! We attend parades while wearing masks and colors of purple, green, and gold. During the day, parade floats will throw beads and candy into the crowd, and at night the celebrations continue out on the town. But what is Mardi Gras really all about? Wikipedia explains Mardi Gras as this:

 The terms “Mardi Gras“, “Mardi Gras season“, and “Carnival season“, in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday; in English the day is sometimes referred to as Shrove Tuesday, from the word shrive, meaning “confess.” Related popular practices are associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. Popular practices include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone loves an excuse to celebrate–especially in fun purple, green, and gold pajamas–but what makes these colors significant? Why do we only wear these three colors when we celebrate Mardi Gras? Let’s ask Wikipedia again:

The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold. These colors are said to have been chosen by Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch Romanoff of Russia during a visit to New Orleans in 1872. This doctrine was reaffirmed in 1892, when the Rex Parade theme “Symbolism of Colors” gave the colors their meanings.

When your night of celebration is over, curl up with some green or purple satin pajamas, put on your relaxing eye mask, and fall away into a Mardi Gras dreamland.

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