Mardi Gras is a festival celebrated prior to fasting season of Lent. It is also known as Shrove Tuesday and Fat Tuesday. It refers to the practice of the last night of consuming rich array of foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten period, that begins on Ash Wednesday. This year, Mardi Gras occurs on February 12. Celebrations include floats, carnivals, parades, sport competitions, dancing, and parties where people celebrate with fancy costumes and masks.
Margi Gras celebrations are more popular in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Barranquilla, Colombia; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Quebec City, Canada; Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico; and New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. In America, Mardi Gras was introduced as a French Catholic tradition.
Color of Mardi Gras
The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are; Purple (symbolic of justice), Green (symbolic of faith), and Gold (symbolic of power). People wear purple, green, and gold during the celebrations. There are lots of long glittering colorful beads worn with pride by participants in carnivals and parties. Bead garlands are also thrown from floats and balconies, and given away as trinkets to people who have come to watch the parades.
One could learn more about the history and folk art of Mardi Gras rituals from Museums and other historical societies.
Mardi Gras at iKolam!
It is still the beginning of the year, and we are excited about introducing some new traditions of our own, here at ikolam! We too, would like to have more fun with our members and would like to celebrate with the royal color combinations of Purple, Green and Gold! And yes, we would like some of our own glitter and glitz, in the form of Rangolis. Please let us know if you find this theme exciting as much as we do. We sincerely hope, our members would make and share their Mardi Gras rangolis with all of us. :)
Mardi Gras, for 2013: February 12