| . Religion
& Spirit . The
Season: Fat Tuesday, the Mardi Gras "Throw
me something, mister. ..." Thus goes the street cry of Mardi
Gras ... Fat Tuesday. ... Traditionally, Mardi
Gras has marked the peak of the revels before Lent, which begins the
following day on Ash Wednesday. The custom or pre-Lenten revels
dates back at least to the 15th century CE, but probably began long before
that. ... The festivities that we are
familiar with, most notably the Mardi Gras celebration in New
Orleans, are considered to begin on the Friday before Fat Tuesday, when a
costumed "belle" greases the poles of the Royal Sonesta Hotel,
to keep the revelers from shimmying up. But if you belong to one of
the many 'krewes' or clubs that participate wholeheartedly in Mardi
Gras, then you know that, at least in some circles, the celebrations
actually begin much earlier, viz., with Twelfth Night, the feast of the
Epiphany, on January 6th. ... From
that point on, the clubs and krewes keep busy with a succession of balls
and parades that continue right up to Fat Tuesday. Not only that,
but from the Epiphany on, you can get King Cake -- the traditional
coffee-cake-like treat, covered in the multi-colored sugars of the
carnival season -- purple, green & yellow ... supposedly a
tradition that dates back to 1872, when the Russian Grand Duke Alexis
Romanoff came to New Orleans during carnival in pursuit of the actress,
Lydia Thompson. Purple, green & yellow were the colors of the
House of the Romanoff's. ... Well ... Below,
then -- partly FYI, and partly to dispel those Cabin Fever Blues -- we
offer some images from the New Orleans Mardi Gras. ...
Enjoy. . Images
of Mardi Gras
Laissez
les Bons Temps Rouler ... | 
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