Mardi Gras – New Orleans

4 million people throng New Orleans every year in January to participate in the “World’s Greatest Free party on Earth – Mardi Gras Festival”.

Chandrashekar Srinivasan

The festivities begin in the early January and end on Mardi Gras day also called as Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and Lent.

Sammy Said

Festivities start in New Orleans each year on January 6, the Twelfth Night feast of the Epiphany -- the day, tradition has it, that the three kings first visited Jesus Christ. Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, is the day-long highlight of the season

Joy Pecknold, Passport blog editor

Reach for the stars, more beads please

HolidayLGA, flckr, nfl

During the 12-day period leading up to Mardi Gras, the parades are held in the four-parish area of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany and St. Bernard. Competition for the best floats is friendly but fierce!

All the jazz, blues and Dixieland bands in the state congregate in New Orleans to accompany the festivities on street corners and at bars, hotels, parties and fancy masked balls. Not to forget the sumptuous Creole food, the original NOLA food.

During Mardi Gras, all of the businesses and roads are practically shut down--people walk everywhere and meeting new friends. People are dressed in crazy costumes, kids are everywhere, and they love it!

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