The First New Orleans Mardi Gras
February 27, 1827 - It was Fat Tuesday, and a bunch of students decided to dress up and dance in the streets of the French Quarter. Thus began the Mardi Gras tradition in New Orleans.
But Mardi Gras in Lousiana goes back much further. In 1699, French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville arrived near present-day Louisiana on Mardi Gras and named the site “Pointe du Mardi Gras.”
The ritual traces its origins way back to ancient Rome. Over the centuries it picked up steam as a wild meat-eating, wine-chugging last hurrah before the fasting and somber penitence of Lent.
Check out the home movies from Mardi Gras in the 50s and 60s below:
