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Click on the Krewe to see a map of the parade route!
*The following are the projected 2010 parade dates based on 2009 info. |
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Mardi Gras Day is always the day before Ash Wednesday, which as you know is different each year depending on the date of Easter Sunday.
Mardi Gras started a long, long time ago, and at different times in different places. Early Christians only performed baptisms on Easter Sunday. So people would fast and pray before being baptized, and that tradition became Lent. Mardi Gras Day is on Tuesday because it is the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. 
Krewe (pronounced crew) – noun: Any of several groups whose members organize and participate as costumed participants in the parades and balls during Mardi Gras. 
In New Orleans, the first week of January begins King Cake season, a traditional gastronomic prelude to the city's Mardi Gras celebrations. We bake our King Cakes in the Mardi Gras colors: purple, green and gold. They first appeared on the cakes after 1872, when the Rex Krewe selected those colors for its opening Mardi Gras parade. The colors come to stand for Mardi Gras and took on symbolic meanings: purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Hidden in each oblong of braided coffee-cake dough is a bean or plastic baby; custom dictates that whoever finds it must give the next King cake party. And one Mardi Gras organization even uses a King cake tradition to choose the queen of its annual ball.
Costumes are an integral part of Mardi Gras; from beads and feathered masks to detailed Louis XVI costumes, hand-made Mardi Gras Indian feathered suits, or a grown baby on flaming rollerskates. At Mardi Gras, it takes all kinds! Mardi Gras costuming has happened in festivals dating back to pre-Christian Rome. Today Mardi Gras continues as a raucous spring break for all ages, with costumes galore. Nowadays, we also have family-oriented parades during the daytime, so that the children of New Orleans are sheltered from adult costumes while also being indoctrinated in the traditions.
Mardi Gras is a child-friendly season everywhere in New Orleans besides Bourbon Street. Children watch the parades, hoot and holler and catch beads. Many parents modify ladders to be large high-chairs for their kids. After all, parades are great family entertainment - fanciful floats, marching bands, doubloons, riders on horseback, crazy costumes, and adults throwing beads, aluminum coins, and toys. They make for a great family outing where not only the kids can have a great time, but Mom and Dad can, too! Clearly it’s not Disneyland, and children should avoid Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras Day, but no major parades go through the French Quarter anyway. Major parades roll from the Garden District or Mid-City to Downtown.
Remember, tens of thousands of parents bring their children to Mardi Gras parades every year. Here are some tips to help you have a fun, safe Mardi Gras with the little ones:
Ball - A masked dance and party held by a krewe to celebrate Mardi Gras and introduce their royalty for the season. Some krewes have short variety performances based on that year’s theme.
You’re so excited to be riding in your first Mardi Gras parade, but you have so many questions. Here are some hints from the Mardi Gras experts at MardiGrasSpot.com
Before the big day:
You will be COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE for ANYTHING that ENTIRE day! TAKE OFF WORK! HIRE A SOLID BABYSITTER! KENNEL THE PETS! TELL EVERYONE NOT TO GET SICK, because between your krewe fees and dues, your throws and everything else, you are FINANCIALLY VESTED in what may be the greatest experience of your life!
