 Mardi Gras began over a thousand years ago as a Christian interpretation of an ancient Roman celebration. This celebration was called Lupercelia and was a circus-like festival held in mid-February. Oddly enough, the name is derived from the Latin word 'lupus' but the meaning as applied to the festival has become obscured over time.

 The celebration came to America in 1699 when a French explorer set up camp on Fat Tuesday just south of New Orleans. He named the location, Point du Mardi Gras.

 Mardi Gras was celebrated by masked individuals on carriages and at balls in New Orleans until it was banned for many years while under Spanish rule.

 Mardi Gras was legitimized by Mistick Krewe of Comus in 1857 which established many of the key features of modern Mardi Gras including unifying themes, secrecy, and a ball after a parade.

 The Mardi Gras colors were established by the Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff of Russia. The Krewe of Rex appointed him to be the first King of Carnival while he was visiting New Orleans in 1872.

 The colors of Mardi Gras represent justice (purple), faith (green) and power (gold). After chosen, New Orleans stores stocked up on these colors. LSU chose yellow and purple to be their official colors and pur- chased large quantities of the available cloth. The shops were left with only green cloth, and Tulane University, a rival of LSU's, purchased the remaining cloth and adopted it as their official school color.

 In spite of the media perception of Mardi Gras by much of the nation, Mardi Gras is largely a family affair. Locals avoid Bourbon Street and line up along the mansion-lined St. Charles Avenue where children, families, and students enjoy the festivities and catch beads and other throws (with shirts fully intact). Throwing beads and trinkets began when Santa Claus was featured on a float throwing out toys.

 The traditional cry of parade-goers is "Throw me something, Mister!"

 The most prized throw of Mardi Gras is the Zulu coconut. Many parade-goers struggle to attain these beautiful coconuts which can be painted or even sculpted with traditional African motifs.

 Mardi Gras was canceled throughout parts of WWI and WWII but was celebrated successfully post-Katrina.

In European countries, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. The celebration, called Epiphany, Little Christmas, or the Twelfth Night, is a time of exchanging gifts and feasting. All over the world people gather for festive twelfth night celebrations. One of the most popular customs is the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings...a "King's Cake" The Europeans hide a bean inside their cake and the person receiving the bean must portray one of the kings. Latin-American people put a small figure inside the cake representing the Christ Child. It is said that a year of good fortune awaits the lucky person who gets the figure. Louisianans like the idea of perpetuating the celebration by having the person who receives the baby continue the festivities with another party and another cake. Starting the twelfth day after Christmas, King Cake Parties continue until the first day of Lent, ending on Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras! King Cakes were originally a simple ring of dough with little decoration. The New Orleans style King Cake is brightly decorated with colored sugars in Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold. Thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties every year, making the King Cake another "Fine Mardi Gras Tradition"! Interested in baking a King's Cake? Click here for the recipe. NOTE: You may NOT prepare and serve this before Twelfth Night or after Mardi Gras Day!