Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras

(mär'dē grä) - last day before the fasting season of Lent. It is the French name for Shrove Tuesday. Literally translated, the term means “fat Tuesday” and was so called because it represented the last opportunity for merrymaking and excessive indulgence in food and drink before the solemn season of fasting. In the cities of some Roman Catholic countries the custom of holding carnivals for Mardi Gras has continued since the Middle Ages. The carnivals, with spectacular parades, masked balls, mock ceremonials, and street dancing, usually last for a week or more before Mardi Gras itself. Some of the most celebrated are held in New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Nice, and Cologne.

Translation- Trudging around the streets of Soulad, sometimesines snow-slush filled streets, in the cold and/or pouring down rain, flashing for beads, consuming large quantities of beer and hurricanes, "borrowing" decorations from fences along the way back to the car, knocking on doors of total strangers (injuring oneself while running away), saving lives of very young drinkers that don't know when enough is enough, walking miles to the car AND (most important) having a frickin' BLAST!!!



This is the second year that we will not venture downtown for the festivities. We're going next year, PEOPLE! Unless of course we're in Mexico! (I think Mardi Gras 2007 is Feb. 17th)




Mardi Gras 2001









Mardi Gras 2004