|
 
Keep the kids involved in some focused fun this year with these free
Mardi Gras games. They are interesting without being too hard to play, especially for those younger elementary school kids.
Mardi Gras: Tradition and Celebration
Whether you live in New Orleans, or elsewhere, Mardi
Gras can be celebrated.
Considering present day Mardi Gras celebrations, it
might surprise you to learn that the festival has religious roots.
Festivities start in New Orleans each year on January 6, the Twelfth
Night feast of the Epiphany, and the day it is believed the three kings
first visited Jesus Christ. Mardi Gras, French for �Fat Tuesday�, is
the day-long highlight of Mardi Gras. While Mardi Gras most certainly
has pagan, pre-Christian origins, the Roman Catholic Church legitimized
the festival as a brief celebration before Lent. Mardi Gras Day, a legal
holiday in New Orleans, is set to occur 46 days (the 40 days of Lent
plus six Sundays) Before Easter, and can come as early as February 3 or
as late as March 9.
The celebration of Mardi Gras included private masked
balls, and random street masking, in the cities of Mobile, Alabama and
New Orleans. By the 1820s, maskers on foot, and in decorated carriages,
began to appear on Fat Tuesday, and in 1837, the first documented
procession took place in New Orleans, but it bore no resemblance to
today's carnival.
Just like a Mardi Gras Ball, your party should have a
theme. Each person can choose to be masked or unmasked, but bright
colors, beads, and Jazz music is a must! One popular suggestion for
Mardi Gras parties outside of New Orleans, is to enlist the aid of
someone artistically inclined to paint a large piece of plywood to
coordinate with the Mardi Gras theme, where each couple can stand to
have their photo taken as a gift and memento of the party, just like
they do at the Mardi Gras balls in New Orleans!
Decorating for your Mardi Gras Party is very easy.
Strings of brightly colored lights (Christmas tree lights work well)
plenty of glittery, colorful confetti, helium balloons will round out
the Mardi Gras theme.
Serve traditional Mardi Gras foods and drinks like
crawfish, seafood, Bourdon, jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, moon
pies, King Cake, Mardi Gras Margaritas, dips and chips. We are planning
on playing Mardi Gras related jazz, zydeco and dance music during the
event. A song every Mardi Gras celebration should have is �Mardi Gras
Mambo" by Buckwheat Zydeco!
Printable
Mardi Gras Party Games
|
