DENVER — It's Fat Tuesday — the day that people from the Deep South celebrate with a parade or two, lots of beads and food that won't stop — until midnight which is the start of Lent.
Mardi Gras refers to events of the Carnival celebrations beginning after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three King's Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday.
The earliest Mardi Gras in the United States took place in 1699 when French explorers landed at "Pointe du Mardi Gras," near where we now call New Orleans. New Orleans was established in 1718.
The earliest reference to Mardi Gras appears in a 1781 report to the Spanish colonial governing body. That year, the first of hundreds of clubs and carnival organizations formed in New Orleans.
The first documented New Orleans Mardi Gras parade occurred in 1837.
Today, New Orleans has several social organizations known as "krewes" who participate in Mardi Gras during the Carnival season. As many krewes were developed from clubs with restrictive membership policies and are privately funded, New Orleanians call it the "Greatest Free Show on Earth."
For many Southern food restaurants, Fat Tuesday marks one of the busiest days of the year when many serve up boiled crawfish, barbecue shrimp, crawfish etouffee and king cake.
Laissez les bon temps rouler – or let the good times roll!
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