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We couldn't pass up the chance to participate in this centuries-old celebration while we were in the south. Though New Orleans boasts the biggest party, we opted for the smaller event held at the site of the oldest ongoing Mardi Gras celebration, Mobile, begun in 1830. Mardi Gras was brought to the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1699 by Pierre le Moyne d'Iberville and a homesick group of French explorers who toasted the King of France in remembrance of the holiday being celebrated back home. It took over a century before settlers were able to make Mardi Gras a major part of their culture. It now occupies many weeks each spring, and months in preparation. The holiday has origins in ancient Greece and Rome as a pagan spring celebration. Christian leaders later found it impossible to remove the practice from its membership and thus incorporated it as part of their ritual feast day before the Lent season of fasting and repentance. Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French, though it has expanded to cover many days full of parades, masquerade balls, and sometimes reckless behavior (the "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" mentality). For kids (and grownups too), it's an opportunity to challenge skills in catching some of the abundant objects being thrown from the floats of one or more of the many parades held during this Carnival season, and the chance to party just for the fun of it. |
Where
do you go for free bead necklaces and moon pies? To a Mardi Gras parade,
of course!|
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What happens at Mardi Gras? Little Mimi learns about the fun events and parades at her first Mardi Gras.
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Gaston
Goes to Mardi Gras This fun picture book helps children feel the excitement of Mardi Gras. |
) "It
was such a mess when the parades were all over. People had left trash
everywhere. There were moon pies smashed on the roads and broken necklaces
too. Some people had been there all day and left all the wrappers and
cans from their food. It kind of ruined the fun of Mardi Gras."--Amanda |
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) The
next day we went to the Exploreum, Mobile's new science museum, and had
a great time learning about flight, magnets, inertia, sound, levers, and
lots of other cool stuff. |
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 Faces
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For Younger Readers |
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