I am not Catholic, so I do not do Lent, but I do cheat and celebrate Mardi Gras anyway. Much of my family lives in Southern Lousiana so I am hardcore into the Mardi Gras tradition. I used to give presentations on Mardi Gras every year in French classes and such. I won't go through the whole shpeal with you all, but I will share a few fun traditions for those of you who may not know about the holiday. If you have any questions about this holiday at all, just ask, I can probably answer it.
In case you have no idea what this holiday is about (this is the super simple short version), in the Catholic religion people go through a 40 day period called Lent in which they give something up for the 40 day period (like chocolate or ice cream or nail polish lol). Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the day before the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday) and basically you gorge yourself on the thing that you are giving up that day. It is also a day of merriment since Lent isn't meant to be a happy time. So it is basically a day to party!
I want to share with you my King Cake! This is a traditional cake of the Mardi Gras holiday. Everyone at the party has a slice, and in one of the slices of the cake there is a little plastic baby (it is usually hidden in the cake). My grandmother actually express shipped me this cake half-way across America from Baton Rouge Louisiana, so this is very authentic lol. The person who gets the baby hosts next year's party!
Another tradition of Mardi Gras is the parade! I don't have any pictures for you of a parade, but basically it is a line of floats that throw candy and plastic beaded necklaces at the crowd. They play loud music and it is just so much fun! Don't worry, I don't spend my Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street! ;)
Masks are another important part of Mardi Gras. This is me wearing my cheapy mask because I don't have my nice one at school with me. Most Mardi Gras parties used to be Masquerade Balls. Even though we really don't have those today, the tradition of wearing masks is still widely practiced.
I don't want to make this post too long so I will stop there. If you have further questions please ask them to me, I love this holiday, it really ranks up in the top three for me! It is a really important tradition to me, which is hard in an area of the United States that does not really celebrate it, well at least not as hardcore as I do. ;)
Also Lucy, if you are reading this; it is great to see you back! I was very excited to see your comments!