Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". It is the final day of Carnival. It is a celebration that is held just before the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent.
Dates
The date can vary from February 3 to March 9 in non-leap years or February 4 to March 9 in leap years. Like Lent, the date is dependent on that of Easter.
Mardi Gras falls on the following dates in the following years:
* 2007 – February 20
* 2008 – February 5
* 2009 – February 24
* 2010 – February 16
* 2011 – March 8
* 2012 – February 21
* 2013 – February 12
* 2014 – March 4
Locations
Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Venice, Salvador da Bahia, and Mazatlán. Many other places have important Mardi Gras celebrations as well. The carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, and in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Panama's carnivals are gaining notoriety each year, with tourists from the U.S., Latin American and European countries increasing year after year.
Brazil
In Brazil, the Carnival celebrations in Recife, Olinda, Salvador are well-known, among others, most notably Rio de Janeiro.
Mardi Gras and The Rio de Janeiro Carnival
The annual Carnival that is held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is related to Mardi Gras. The celebrations of the Carnival end on Mardi Gras. This festival is an annual event that is held 2 weeks before the traditional Christian fasting of Lent. Thousands of people from across Brazil and also from other parts of the world come to attend the festivities. Carnival comes with a lot of music, good food, color and of course the Samba dance. Mardi Gras, the last day, is an added attraction.
United States
While not observed nationally throughout the United States, a number of cities and regions in the country have notable celebrations.
Mardi Gras arrived in North America with the Le Moyne brothers, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisianne, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
The two explorers eventually found the mouth of the Mississippi River, sailed a while upstream and named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (French: "Mardi Gras Point") 60 miles downriver from present-day New Orleans. In 1699, the traditional Catholic celebration ensued leading to what many refer to as "North America's first Mardi Gras". Between 1700-1702, Bienville founded the settlement of Mobile (Alabama), as the first capital of French Louisiana, and in 1703, the American Mardi Gras tradition began with French annual celebrations in Mobile. Year 1704 began with the masked ball, Masque De La Mobile, and in 1711, Mobile began the first parades. By 1720, Biloxi became the 2nd capital of Louisiana, adopting the French customs there.
In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved, due to fear of tides and hurricanes, to an inland harbor town founded 1718 called "Nouvelle-Orléans" (New Orleans), and the tradition, which had started 20 years earlier in Mobile, was expanded. Nearly 125 years after Mobile's first parade of 1711, a krewe from Mobile, the Cowbellion de Rakin Society (1830), began the first known parades in New Orleans (1835). Over the passing decades, following their European customs, Carnival celebrations took place in all towns and cities in the colony.
Carnival celebrations became an annual event highlighted by lavish balls and masked spectacles. Some were small, private parties with select guest-lists, while others were raucous, public affairs.
Lately, Mardi Gras has been taken up by several cities in the U.S., as the event brings much needed revenue to city coffers.
*Information provided by Wikipedia
