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Mardi Gras
"Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!"
Let the good times roll! The holidays are coming fast and furious! With a kilt in this tartan, all you need is a sparkly mask, a traditional string of beads, and some pancakes for fortification, and you're ready to join a Mardi Gras parade and revels in style! Shrove Tuesday is traditionally the last day of feasting before the season of Lent and also known as Pancake Day, a day for using up rich foods such as eggs, milk and sugar before the 40-day period of Lent abstinence until Easter. Shrove Tuesday's more boisterous incarnation, Mardi Gras or "Fat Tuesday," is the culmination of the season of Carnival, a final day of excess most famously celebrated with parades and parties in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Venice, Italy; New Orleans, United States; São Vicente, Cape Verde; Nice, France; Barranquilla, Colombia; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Goa, India; and Quebec City, Canada! In New Orleans, the tradition of flinging gold, purple, and green colored beads to revelers during the many parades inspired the colours in this tartan design symbolizing purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power! 💜 💚 💛 🥞
Celebrated throughout the world in many countries and cities, Mardi Gras (or "Fat Tuesday") takes place every year on the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the first day of the Catholic Lenten Season.
In the United States, although the New Orleans Mardi Gras has a reputation for debauchery, the celebrations are also full of time-honoured traditions.
The official colors of New Orleans Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold. The Krewe of Rex chose these colors in 1872 in part to honor the Russian Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov, who visited New Orleans during that year’s carnival season. The krewe asked the people of New Orleans to display the colors, which represent justice (purple), faith (green), and power (gold), on Mardi Gras Day.
Mardi Gras krewes are social organizations that host balls or put on parades each carnival season. Some krewes have open membership, while others are highly exclusive or secretive. They can be organized by neighbourhood, interest, or involvement in the community. Historically, krewes were all male, but the first all-female krewes began to appear in the early 1900s. The two best-known krewes that parade on Mardi Gras day are the Krewe of Rex and the Krewe of Zulu.
In the early days of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, participants wore masks to escape social constraints and allow themselves to be free to mingle with whomever they chose. Many krewes wore masks to keep their identities secret. Today, any person who rides on a float during a Mardi Gras parade, other than celebrities or krewe royalty, is required by law to disguise his or her face. Some krewes wear masks while others choose to paint their faces.
This tartan uses the traditional colours of a traditional Mardi Gras celebration.
For more Mardi Gras customs throughout the world, click the mask and beads!