ObservanceTuesday, February 9, 2027
Mardi Gras
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Mardi Gras is Shrove Tuesday, the day immediately before Ash Wednesday, and the last day of the Carnival season. In Louisiana it is not a figure of speech but a statutory one: state law lists "the day of Mardi Gras" among the state's days of public rest and legal holidays. Almost everything Americans picture when they hear the word — krewes, floats, purple and green and gold — was worked out in New Orleans between the 1850s and the 1880s.
History
The name is French for Fat Tuesday, which Britannica traces to "the custom of using all the fats in the home before Lent." Shrove Tuesday is "the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent in Western Christian churches)." Pinned to Ash Wednesday rather than to a calendar date, the day moves every year; the New Orleans Public Library's City Archives publish the dates from 1947 through 2050.
Louisiana dates its own connection to 1699. "Since 1699, when Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville celebrated his arrival at the mouth of the Mississippi on Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras has been integrally linked to Louisiana's cultural heritage," the Louisiana State Museum writes. Evidence for the century that follows is thin — the museum notes "scant evidence of Carnival during the early 1700s" — but by 1781 the season was established enough that Spanish colonial authorities forbade free people of color and enslaved people to mask or mimic whites during it. The first parades were improvised, "impromptu processions formed by maskers already in the streets," with young Creole men organizing informal processions by the 1830s.
The modern machinery arrives in the 1850s. The City Archives date the Mistick Krewe of Comus to 1856 and record that "the first Mardi Gras parade was held in 1857, featuring the Mistick Krewe of Comus"; the state museum instead describes the krewe as emerging in 1857, and both years are reported below rather than reconciled. Comus staged a nighttime procession followed by a private ball, and set the pattern for everything after it, secrecy included: "the aura of mystery and surprise associated with krewes to this day was conceived by Comus."
Others followed quickly: the Twelfth Night Revelers in 1870, the Knights of Momus and Rex in 1872, the Krewe of Proteus in 1882. Rex supplied the parts that now read as official, billing its monarchs as the king and queen of Carnival and introducing a daytime parade. Purple, green and gold, the City Archives state, "are the official colors of carnival and represent justice, faith, and power."
The sharpest modern break came in 1992, when the city tied parade permits to Councilmember Dorothy Mae Taylor's ordinance barring discrimination in krewe membership. Comus, Momus and Proteus all stopped parading that year; Proteus resumed in 2000, and the Comus and Momus parades never returned.
Timeline
- 1699 — Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville celebrates his arrival at the mouth of the Mississippi on Shrove Tuesday.
- 1781 — Spanish colonial authorities forbid free people of color and enslaved people to mask or mimic whites during the Carnival season.
- 1857 — The first Mardi Gras parade, staged by the Mistick Krewe of Comus, which the City Archives date to 1856.
- 1872 — Rex and the Knights of Momus are founded; Rex introduces a daytime parade and the king and queen of Carnival.
- 1896 — Les Mysterieuses becomes the first large-scale women's krewe.
- 1992 — A city ordinance ties parade permits to non-discrimination in krewe membership; Comus, Momus and Proteus stop parading. Proteus returns in 2000.
How to observe
Find out whether you actually have the day off, because the answer is unusually technical. Louisiana lists "the day of Mardi Gras" among its statewide legal holidays and names it for state employees, but local closure is a separate question: the statute names twenty-nine parishes, plus all municipalities, where "Mardi Gras shall be a holiday when the governing authorities so declare by ordinance."
Leave the French Quarter. Rex, the King of Carnival, parades Mardi Gras morning, and the mayor of New Orleans traditionally toasts the kings and queens of Rex and Zulu on the steps of Gallier Hall.
For the older tradition rather than the spectacle, go to a rural courir, or run — "a seemingly chaotic quest to obtain ingredients for a communal gumbo" that in fact "involves a complex system of rules." Because courirs were held in isolated areas where illiteracy was prevalent, the state museum notes, "the historical record is sketchy."
Frequently asked questions
When is Mardi Gras?
It has no fixed date. Mardi Gras is Shrove Tuesday, the day immediately before Ash Wednesday, so it moves each year with the start of Lent. The New Orleans Public Library's City Archives publish the dates from 1947 through 2050.
Is Mardi Gras a public holiday?
In Louisiana, yes: the statute listing the state's days of public rest and legal holidays includes "the day of Mardi Gras," and state departments are told that no employee shall work on it insofar as practicable. Local closures depend on local action, since the same statute lets twenty-nine named parishes and all municipalities declare it a holiday by ordinance. It is not among the 11 federal holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a).
What do purple, green and gold mean?
They are the official colors of Carnival, and the City Archives give their meanings as justice, faith and power.
What is a krewe?
A private Carnival organization that stages a parade, a ball, or both. The oldest — Comus, the Twelfth Night Revelers, Momus, Rex and Proteus — are known as the old line krewes, and three of them stopped parading in 1992.
When is Mardi Gras?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | February 9 | Tuesday |
| 2028 | February 29 | Tuesday |
| 2029 | February 13 | Tuesday |
| 2030 | March 5 | Tuesday |
| 2031 | February 25 | Tuesday |
Sources
- Louisiana State Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:55, Days of public rest, legal holidays, and half-holidays — https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=74097 → "the day of Mardi Gras" in the statewide list of days of public rest and legal holidays in Subsection A(1); Subsection A(3) naming twenty-nine parishes and all municipalities where "Mardi Gras shall be a holiday when the governing authorities so declare by ordinance"; Subsection B(1)(a) directing that no state employee shall work on Mardi Gras Day insofar as practicable; Subsection E(1)(a)(iii) making Mardi Gras a legal holiday for clerks of court in a further list of parishes.
- Louisiana State Museum, Mardi Gras in Louisiana — https://louisianastatemuseum.org/exhibit/mardi-gras-louisiana → the 1699 Iberville arrival on Shrove Tuesday; "scant evidence of Carnival during the early 1700s"; the 1781 Spanish colonial prohibition on masking; impromptu processions and the 1830s Creole processions; Comus in 1857, the Paradise Lost costumes, the Gaiety Theatre ball, the model for today's parades and the aura of mystery; Rex billing its monarchs as king and queen of Carnival and introducing a daytime parade; Les Mysterieuses in 1896; the courir and its rules and sketchy record; the Mardi Gras Indians' unknown origins; the Baby Dolls, Bucketmen, Skeletons and Monkeys.
- City Archives and Special Collections, New Orleans Public Library, Carnival Collection: the Old Line Krewes — https://nolacityarchives.org/2026/02/08/carnival-collection-old-line/ → founding years for the Mistick Krewe of Comus (1856), Twelfth Night Revelers (1870), Knights of Momus (1872), Rex (1872) and Krewe of Proteus (1882); "the first Mardi Gras parade was held in 1857, featuring the Mistick Krewe of Comus"; Rex parading Mardi Gras morning; Dorothy Mae Taylor's ordinance tying parade permits to non-discrimination in krewe membership; Comus, Momus and Proteus stopping in 1992, Proteus resuming in 2000 and Comus and Momus never returning; the tableau balls of the old line krewes.
- City Archives and Special Collections, New Orleans Public Library, All Things Carnival — https://nolacityarchives.org/2025/02/09/all-things-carnival/ → purple, green and gold as the official colors of Carnival representing justice, faith and power; Carnival cancelled thirteen times since 1857, mostly due to war; the 1992 date for the Taylor ordinance; the mayor's tradition of toasting the kings and queens of Rex and Zulu at Gallier Hall.
- City Archives and Special Collections, New Orleans Public Library, Mardi Gras Dates — https://nolacityarchives.org/2024/02/06/mardi-gras-dates/ → the published list of Mardi Gras dates from 1947 through 2050; parades cancelled in 1979 because of the police strike and events cancelled by the city in 2021 because of Covid-19.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Shrove Tuesday — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shrove-Tuesday → Shrove Tuesday as "the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent in Western Christian churches)" and "the last day before the Lenten fast."
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Mardi Gras — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mardi-Gras-carnival → Mardi Gras meaning Fat Tuesday, "from the custom of using all the fats in the home before Lent," and falling on Shrove Tuesday, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
- U.S. Government Publishing Office, United States Code, 2023 Edition, 5 U.S.C. 6103 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title5/html/USCODE-2023-title5-partIII-subpartE-chap61-subchapI-sec6103.htm → the 11 legal public holidays, which do not include Mardi Gras.
Source conflict reported rather than resolved by averaging: the founding year of the Mistick Krewe of Comus. The New Orleans Public Library's City Archives give 1856, with the first parade in 1857; the Louisiana State Museum describes the krewe as emerging in 1857. Both are stated above.
Omitted for want of an acceptable source: Mobile, Alabama's claim to the oldest organized Mardi Gras in the United States, together with the 1703 Fort Louis de la Mobile celebration, the Cowbellion de Rakin Society and the Order of Myths — the Encyclopedia of Alabama article on them could not be retrieved, and no other acceptable source was reached, so the New Orleans and Mobile claims are not ranked here. Also omitted: the first King of Carnival and the details of the 1872 Rex parade; the arithmetic relating Ash Wednesday to the date of Easter, which no source consulted here states; flambeaux, doubloons and king cake, for which no sourced detail was available beyond the archives' collection inventories.
Not used as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, mardigrasneworleans.com and comparable aggregator, tourism-promotional and content-farm pages.
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