It's Mardi Gras

It’s Mardi Gras, It’s Fat Tuesday, It’s Pancake Day, It’s the Feast before the Fast!!!!

Having lived in New Orleans for 4 years and enjoyed 4 lovely Mardi Gras seasons, I would give anything to be in that location at this time. The ambience, the music, the food, the parades, the floats, the blast of colour!

Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a huge never ending street party and the whole town is agog with excitement and joie de vivre. It starts about 2 weeks before the actual Mardi Gras day and ends promptly at midnight on Mardi Gras.

It is the celebration of the day before Ash Wednesday, where everyone celebrates the eve of the beginning of Lent with dancing, feasting and merriment.

I thought I’d do a poem for this one...

As I sit here in the Quarter
Watching with my daughter
I see the colourful floats go past
On the Feast before the Fast

Mardi Gras is once a year
It doesn’t matter what you wear
Just come on out and join the crowd
It’s ok to be really loud!

Laissez les Bon Temps roullez
That’s what the Natives always say
Sitting in downtown New Orleans
Eating red beans, rice and collard greens

It’s Pancake Day
And come what may
I’ll eat to my heart’s delight
While dancing in the evening light

Purple Green and Gold
The Mardi Gras colours of old
It’s midnight now – time to clean up
And all before the sun comes up!

Photos courtesy Microsoft.com