new orleans — People leaned from wrought-iron balconies, shouting the catchphrase “Throw me something, mister” as a massive Mardi Gras parade marched down historic St. Charles Street in New Orleans on Tuesday.
Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, marks the culmination and end of long weeks Carnival season A final opportunity for indulgence, feasting and celebrations before the Lenten period of sacrifice and contemplation. The joyful farewell to Carnival always falls on the day before Ash Wednesday.
In Louisiana’s most populous city, which is world-famous for its Mardi Gras party, people dressed in green, gold and purple, some opting for an abundance of sequins while others showed off homemade costumes.
Revelers began lining the streets as the sun rose. They have installed chairs, coolers, grills and ladders – providing a higher vantage point.
As bands passed and floats filled with women wearing huge feather headdresses passed, and the music echoed through the city streets, people danced and cheered. Others sipped drinks, with many opting for adult beverages on the day of celebration instead of their usual morning coffee.
Each display has its own distinct “throws” – trinkets that include plastic beads, candy, multipliers, stuffed animals, cups and toys. Hand-decorated coconuts are a sought-after item for the Zulus, a huge offering named after South Africa’s largest ethnic group.
When a man dressed as a lobster — including red cloth claws for the hands — grabbed one of the coconuts and waved it, the gold glitter on the shell sparkled in the sun.
Sue Menino wore a white Egyptian-inspired outfit, complete with a gold headpiece and a sheer headpiece. Her face was decorated with electric blue eye shadow.
“The world will be here tomorrow, but today is a holiday and a time to celebrate,” Menino said.
The party isn’t just limited to the parade route. Throughout the French Quarter, people celebrated in the streets, on balconies, and on the front porches of Venetian-style homes.
One impromptu performance was led by a man playing a washing machine and dressed as a blue alligator, dragging his paper tail along the street, accidentally sweeping up stray beads with it. A brass band played “Saints” while people danced.
In Jackson Square, costumed crowds included a man painted from head to toe as a zebra, a group dressed up as hungry hippos from a board game, and a diver wearing an antique copper and brass helmet.
“The people are the best part,” said Martha Archer, who was dressed as Madame Leotta, the disembodied medium whose head appears inside a crystal ball at the Haunted Mansion at the Disney theme parks.
Archer’s face was painted blue and her clothing was a makeshift table that reached up to her neck – giving the appearance that she was actually a floating head.
“Everyone is so happy,” she explained.
The good times won’t be limited just to New Orleans, but across the state, from exclusive parties to the Cajun French tradition of the Courir de Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday Run — a rural event in central Louisiana that features costumed participants begging for ingredients and chasing down live chickens to cook into communal gumbo.
Parades are also held in other Gulf Coast cities such as Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, and there are other world-famous celebrations. In Brazil And Europe.
One of the most unusual of these contests is the International Pancake Day Contest pitting the women of Liberal, Kansas, against the women of Olney, England. Pancakes are used because they were thought to be a good way for Christians to consume the fat they were supposed to give up during the forty days before Easter.
Competitors must hold a pancake in a frying pan and flip it at the beginning and end of the 415-yard (380 m) race.