New Orleans, Louisiana– As people return to work Tuesday after the long weekend, beads will fly, crawfish boils, and parades roll through New Orleans as the city celebrates Mardi Gras.
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.
Among the final parades in Louisiana’s most populous city, which is world-famous for its Mardi Gras party, is a parade hosted by Zulu Social Assistant & Fun club.
Marchers and float riders in the Zulu Parade wear African-inspired clothing and throw “throws” — trinkets that include plastic beads, candy, doubles, stuffed animals, cups and toys. The signature “throw” of this parade is hand-decorated coconuts, coveted items that many revelers hope to obtain.
Later in the day, Rex, the King of Carnival, will parade along St. Charles Street, lined with parade goers and stately oak trees covered in moss and Spanish beads.
Carnival events are popular for their spectacular and enormous floats, as well as their intricately designed costumes, e.g Black Indians hidewhose beaded and jeweled costumes are topped with feather headdresses, or the processions who walk through the French Quarter in homemade costumes embody the unique spirit of the Big Easy.
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 participants in costumes, begging for ingredients and chasing down live chickens to be cooked 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.