Carnival season refers to the period before Mardi Gras Day, which is always the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Parades are held during this time featuring floats decorated with themes and carrying krewe members who throw trinkets to crowds. Mardi Gras traditions include costumes, masks, king cakes, doubloons, and groups like the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club parade.

2. • Carnival refers to the season before Mardi Gras Day.
• Mardi Gras Day always falls on the Tuesday that is 46 days
before Easter.
• It is always the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the start of
Lent.
• It begins officially on Jan. 6, which is known as Twelfth Night or
Kings' Day, so named because it falls 12 days after Christmas on
the day the Wise Men are said to have reached Bethlehem.

3. • Every parade has a theme, usually borrowed from mythology, history or
Hollywood.
• Most parades have kings and queens and dukes and duchesses, prince,
princess, etc.
• All parade riders throw trinkets - beads, doubloons, small toys, candy
-from the floats to the crowds. These are called "throws”
• Parades consist of anywhere from 10 to 40 floats carrying krewe members,
marching bands, dance groups, and costumed characters.
• Some parades are small and suburban, others downtown and lavish.

4. Krewe: A term applied to the people who belong to
your “Club.” or parade. Your membership dues
pay for your, costumes, throws, and float.

5. Floats: Any decorated, movable platform for
carrying Carnival maskers.

7. Costumes and masks are a long time tradition on Mardi Gras Day.
People spend all year making costumes that glorify heroes, ridicule public
figures, or poke fun at customs, traditions, or current events.
Masking is permitted only on Mardi Gras Day, and masks must be
removed at dark.

9. •The colors of Carnival are purple, green and
gold, chosen in 1872 by that year's Rex.
• The 1892 Rex parade gave the official colors
meaning
Purple for justice
Green for faith
Gold for power.

10. Dances or Balls are held
in Hotels and Centers.
Kings, Queens and their
Court is presented to the
Members of the Krewe.

11. Bouef Gras: The fatted ox or bull that has, since
the Middle Ages, been a part of pre-Lenten
celebrations.
It symbolizes the last meat eaten before Lent.
Giant paper-mache ox on a float that is a
traditional part of the parade today
Bouef
Gras

12. Bouef Gras: The fatted ox
or Bull

13. Doubloons: Silver-dollar sized aluminum coins
minted for and given out by Carnival Krewe.
Rex threw the first one from a float in 1960.
They come in different
colors and are stamped
with the krewe’s emblem
and their theme for the
year.

14. King Cake: A sweet roll-like cake made in a ring.
It contains a plastic doll.
The person who finds the doll in his or her piece of cake must provide the king
cake on the next occasion.
King's Cake" which represents the three kings who brought gifts.
King Cakes are made of a cinnamon
filled dough in the shape of a hollow circle.
The cake is topped with a delicious
glazed topping and then sprinkled
with colored sugar

15. • Mardi Gras Indians: African-American marching
groups that parade on Mardi Gras
• They wear elaborate feathered costumes.
• The Wild Magnolias and the Golden Eagles are
among the best known.

18. Rex: Referred to only as "Rex,"
or as "Rex, king of Carnival,"
He toasts his queen at the
on St. Charles Avenue.

19. Throws: Trinkets pitched from a parade float. They
include doubloons, beads, cups and plastic toys.
“Throw me something, Mister”

20. 1. Make eye contact!!!
2. Be willing to trade.
3. Be ready with your foot when that shower of doubloons hit the
ground.
4. Stand close by any cute kids, nuns, soldiers or young babes.
5. For night parades stand in a lighted area or wear blinky beads.
6. Keep a minimum of beads around your neck. Stash that fresh loot
in your bead bag and look kinda sad and pathetic at your complete
lack of success.
Remember that just the three super krewes are gonna throw 1.5 million
cups, 2.5 million doubloons, and 200,000 gross of beads and you
deserve your share, get in there and work for it.

21. • Zulu is New Orleans' first and best-known African-American Carnival
organization, formally known as the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club.
• The club was founded in 1909 and Zulu began to parade in 1916
• Characters: King Zulu, Big Shot and the Witch Doctor
•
• King Zulu carries a banana stalk and wears a lard can on his head.
• The prize of the Zulu parade is a painted coconut; they used to be
thrown from the floats but are now handed out because of high liability
insurance costs due to the risk of injury to spectators.