"Mardi Gras Facts & Fun" is included in our tours of Louisiana Cajun Country.
Here are family-friendly parades and activities, plus the rural Courir des Mardi Gras.

When Is Mardi Gras?

February 20, 2007
February 5, 2008
February 24, 2009

The fluctuating date of Mardi Gras was established by the Catholic Church which designed the Gregorian calendar with a fixed date for Christmas but with moveable dates for other religious holidays:  Easter is the first Sunday after the full moon which follows the Spring Equinox, so it can fall on any Sunday from March 23 to April 25. 

Mardi Gras is always the day before Ash Wednesday and the Tuesday 46 days (the 40 days of Lent plus six Sundays) before Easter, so Mardi Gras can fall between February 3 and March 9.

Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday":  It's the last chance to party before Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday.  The Lenten season is a time of sacrifice and fasting for Christians, so many cultures, especially Catholic ones, historically have developed celebrations (some are wildly bacchanalian, as is Rio's "Carnivale"; others are family-oriented, as is Lafayette's).  This merrymaking has evolved into the Mardi Gras carnival season that is celebrated today .

"Carnival" refers to the season of revelry before Mardi Gras. Carnival season officially opens on Jan. 6 (the "Epiphany," which is also known as "Twelfth Night" because it's 12 days after Christmas and "Kings' Day because it falls on the day the Wise Men are said to have reached Bethlehem). 

When Is Mardi Gras?     Mardi Gras in Cajun Country     Mardi Gras Basics     Mardi Gras Talk

Mardi Gras in Cajun Country

Lafayette's Mardi Gras:  Lafayette's Le Festival de Mardi Gras is second only to the one in New Orleans, but Lafayette's celebrations are generally family-oriented and safe with parade after parade (some designed especially for children) and activities day and night, including a carnival-like midway with amusements and rides at Cajun Field, there's something for everyone here!

Count on many activities throughout the two weekends and week preceding the final "Fat Tuesday" parades and festivities:  Although the parties, parades, and formal balls (presided over by kings and queens chosen by the various krewes and carnival and civic organizations) have been going on since December, everything comes to a festive close on Mardi Gras. The whole city is involved and caught up in the festivity, with everyone welcome to enjoy the fun. Even one of the balls is open to the public:  The Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Association Pageant and Ball (Tickets to the pageant and ball are free.), held at the Heymann Center for the Performing Arts on Mardi Gras night.

The first formal Mardi Gras ball and parade in Lafayette was in 1869, and the first Mardi Gras king (King Attakapas) was crowned in 1897, but Mardi Gras really got rolling when the Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Association was formed in 1934 by representatives from civic and service organizations to ensure that Lafayette would always have a Mardi Gras celebration.  Then as now, Queen Evangeline and King Gabriel (symbols of the sweethearts torn apart when the Acadians were forcibly expelled from Nova Scotia and immortalized by Longfellow in his romantic poem "Evangeline") rule supreme in the Mardi Gras celebrations.

Acadiana's Courir de Mardi Gras:  Small towns (including Church Point, Elton, Eunice, Iota, Mamou, and Ville Platte) throughout Prairie Acadiana celebrate with rural Mardi Gras runs Les Courirs des Mardi Gras, based on the “beggars’ feast” of medieval France and still considered a rite of passage for many young men.  On horseback and in wagons, costumed and masked participants fan out across the countryside as they collect gumbo ingredients (often dismounting to dance and sing for live chickens or other contributions, like rice and onions), which they proudly bring back to town (with high spirits and parading) for a communal gumbo and a fais-do-do (dance).  Here, you can still see and participate in the Mardi Gras traditions that have been followed for hundreds of years.

Eunice has a family-oriented, four-day (Sat. through Tues.) Mardi Gras celebration in conjunction with activities at the Acadian Cultural Center. Visitors may arrange to ride in the Courir du Mardi Gras (prior reservations and traditional costumes required).

When Is Mardi Gras?     Mardi Gras in Cajun Country     Mardi Gras Basics     Mardi Gras Talk

  Mardi Gras "Talk"

ASH WEDNESDAY - The day after Mardi Gras and the first day of Lent. In Louisiana, many Catholics attend Mass and receive an ashen cross on their foreheads to symbolize mortality. 


BALL (ball masque, tableau ball) - A themed masked ball, where the krewe royalty is presented to the club members 


BOEUF (French word) - A large bull or ox, which represents the ancient symbol of the last meal before the Lenten season of fasting


CALL-OUTS - Individuals "called out" from the audience to dance with krewe members during a ball. They receive small gifts called "favors" from their dance partners. At some balls, general dancing follows the call outs.


CAPTAIN - The leader of each Carnival organization


CARNIVAL (from Latin carnivale) - The season, stretching traditionally from Jan. 6 (Twelfth Night) to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday --- the day before Lent). All parades, balls and other events during this period are Carnival events. Technically, only events on Fat Tuesday itself are Mardi Gras events. The term carnival means "removal of the flesh," the flesh in this case being the meat that is forsaken for Lent.


CARNIVAL DAY - Same as Mardi Gras, the last day of Carnival.


COLORS OF CARNIVAL - Purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power


COURT - The king, queen, maids, dukes and other mock royalty of a Carnival organization.


DEN - The location where the floats are built and stored, often a large warehouse.


DOUBLOONS - Silver-dollar-sized, commemorative, aluminum coins minted for and given out by Carnival organizations. Doubloons usually bear the krewe's crest on one side and the parade's theme on the other. Rex threw the first one from a float in 1960. (Earlier such medals were heavier and awarded as ball favors.)


FAVOR - Souvenirs, given to friends or guests attending the krewe's ball by the members


FLAMBEAUX (plural) - Naphtha/kerosene-fueled torches, which used to be the only source of light along the parade routes; now, they are carried along as part of the parade


INVITATION - The printed request for attendance to a Carnival ball


FLOATS - Any decorated, movable platform for carrying Carnival maskers. In some cases, particularly among newer, less affluent or smaller krewes, floats are used in more than one parade.


KING CAKE - A sweet roll-like cake made in a ring, brushed with purple, green, and gold sugar or icing, and containing a plastic doll hidden inside.  The person who finds the doll in his or her piece of cake must provide the king cake on the next occasion. Originally baked in 12th century France on the eve of January 6 to celebrate the visit to the Christ Child by the three Kings, it was brought by French settlers to Louisiana in the 1700s where it remained associated with the Epiphany until the 19th century when it became a more elaborate Mardi Gras custom. King cakes are available at bakeries all over South Louisiana, but only January 6 through Mardi Gras Day.


KREWE - A Mardi Gras Krewe is the membership organization for a parade. Krewes also get together throughout the year for the Coronation Ball (where the Maids, Dukes and King are announced) and Mardi Gras Ball or Tableau (where the Krewe usually appear in their parade costumes). 

LUNDI GRAS (French for Fat Monday) - The day before Fat Tuesday.


MARDI GRAS - Fat Tuesday. The Carnival celebration ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday. 


MARDI GRAS INDIANS - Groups of black men in New Orleans dressed as representations of American Indians; they are outfitted with elaborate feathered costumes, full of color.


MASKERS - a term referring to both the float riders, who normally are masked, and those who costume for Mardi Gras. 


PARADE - A procession of floats, marching bands, dance groups, costumed characters, flambeaux carriers and the like, that winds through the city on a prescribed route in the few weeks before Mardi Gras.


REX - Referred to only as "Rex," or as "Rex, king of Carnival." 


TABLEAU - A "still-life" depiction of a scene by costumed krewe members, presented at a Carnival ball before the dancing begins. It is based on the theme of the ball. The plural is tableaux.


THROWS - Inexpensive trinkets tossed from floats by costumed and masked krewe members. The most popular throws include doubloons, plastic cups and plastic Mardi Gras beads (necklaces).


"THROW ME SOMETHING, MISTER" - The traditional cry of parade-goers pleading for throws as the parade floats roll past. The objective is to get the attention of the float riders and get to go home with more "throws" than anyone else. 

When Is Mardi Gras?     Mardi Gras in Cajun Country     Mardi Gras Basics     Mardi Gras Talk