It’s Mardi Gras time! Break out the beads and get ready to party. But first, enrich your festival experience by learning about the history of the holiday in our blog post, Music, Color, Costumes and Beads—It’s Mardi Gras Time!
And take a walk down memory line in this slideshow of vintage Mardi Gras photos: A Brief History of Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Posted in Blog, Holidays, Public Life
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday
Mardi Gras in New Orleans, 1936.
Did you know that Mardi Gras has ancient roots? Come back with us to those bygone times and explore the festivities that have led to the sights and sounds of today’s modern-day celebration in New Orleans.
First, the vocabulary surrounding Mardi Gras and Carnival bears some explanation. The period between January 6, or the Epiphany (ending the twelve days of Christmastide) to Ash Wednesday is the Carnival season, which is based on Christian rituals. It precedes Lent, a roughly six-week period of sacrifice and prayer prior to Easter Sunday. Mardi Gras technically is the last day of the Carnival and is held on Fat Tuesday (although the Mardi Gras season is an accepted term often heard). In fact, the word “carnival” is thought to be from the “Medieval Latin word carnelevarium, meaning to take away or remove meat.”[1] Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Holidays, Public Life, Recreation, Religion
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Bacchus, Carnival, Fat Tuesday, Lent, Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Roman mythology
AntiquityNOW 