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KF5JRV > TODAY 27.02.19 13:30l 50 Lines 2548 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 31929_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 27
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<SR1BSZ<F1OYP<ON0AR<OZ5BBS<CX2SA<N9PMO<AB0AF<KF5JRV
Sent: 190227/1223Z 31929@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On this day in 1827, a group of masked and costumed students dance
through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of
the city’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations.
The celebration of Carnival–or the weeks between Twelfth Night on
January 6 and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian period of
Lent–spread from Rome across Europe and later to the Americas. Nowhere
in the United States is Carnival celebrated as grandly as in New
Orleans, famous for its over-the-top parades and parties for Mardi Gras
(or Fat Tuesday), the last day of the Carnival season.
Though early French settlers brought the tradition of Mardi Gras to
Louisiana at the end of the 17th century, Spanish governors of the
province later banned the celebrations. After Louisiana Territory became
part of the United States in 1803, New Orleanians managed to convince
the city council to lift the ban on wearing masks and partying in the
streets. The city’s new Mardi Gras tradition began in 1827 when the
group of students, inspired by their experiences studying in Paris,
donned masks and jester costumes and staged their own Fat Tuesday
festivities.
The parties grew more and more popular, and in 1833 a rich plantation
owner named Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville raised money to fund
an official Mardi Gras celebration. After rowdy revelers began to get
violent during the 1850s, a secret society called the Mistick Krewe of
Comus staged the first large-scale, well-organized Mardi Gras parade in
1857.
Over time, hundreds of krewes formed, building elaborate and colorful
floats for parades held over the two weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday.
Riders on the floats are usually local citizens who toss “throwsö at
passersby, including metal coins, stuffed toys or those now-infamous
strands of beads. Though many tourists mistakenly believe Bourbon Street
and the historic French Quarter are the heart of Mardi Gras festivities,
none of the major parades have been allowed to enter the area since 1979
because of its narrow streets.
In February 2006, New Orleans held its Mardi Gras celebrations despite
the fact that Hurricane Katrina had devastated much of the city with
massive flooding the previous August. Attendance was at only 60-70
percent of the 300,000-400,000 visitors who usually attend Mardi Gras,
but the celebration marked an important step in the recovery of the
city, which counts on hospitality and tourism as its single largest
industry.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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