By: Melissa Montero
People are waking up early on their day off to go sit on the side of the street. They are barbequing, drinking, and enjoying the company of friends and family. Suddenly, sirens can be heard. The festivities are beginning. Everyone stands up and awaits the upcoming vehicles. Floats, bands, dancers, queens, maids, and the occasional cop, so things don’t get too rowdy are approaching. It’s carnival time, otherwise known as Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is a great tradition that is only celebrated in the culturally rich state of Louisiana. It is a time of masquerades balls, parades, and entirely too much partying. People walk the streets decked out from head to toe in purple green and gold, dragging their ice chests behind them while dancing to Mardi Gras Mambo. Mardi Gras brings friends and family together at one local spot to indulge in the Mardi Gras festivities. The party begins long before the actual parade arrives and goes on long after the parade has ended. Although all the drinking and partying are very fun, it is all in anticipation for the parade. When the parade arrives, it sends the once festive and friendly crowd into complete chaos. The site of beautiful beads, stuffed animals, sports balls, and cups being launched off the side of the float at the crowd below provide a rush that is indescribable to outsiders. The wild crowd is screaming at the top of their lungs at the hope of catching something, anything. Some women even stoop as low as to show their breasts, others get on top of guys’ shoulders in order to be face-to-face with the riders, and others just yell random names in the hope of guessing a rider’s name.
Although the beads are absolutely beautiful, beads are not the reason that so many people from all walks of life come out to witness Mardi Gras. People attend Mardi Gras to witness a southern tradition that is unmatched in every other part of the country. New Orleans, the birth place of Mardi Gras, fills the streets for this festival year after year. Hotels all around town are booked months in advance even at astronomical prices, people from all over fly in to fill the streets of the famous French Quarter and indulge in everything it has to offer. Famous Bourbon Street is the most popular Mardi Gras location in all of New Orleans. It is lined with bars that do not close, filled with live jazz musicians in the street playing for little to no money, and provides an atmosphere that leaves people talking for months afterwards.
Mardi Gras is Louisiana’s trademark. In a society filled with numerous traditions, this one prevails over all the rest. It is the one thing that sets Louisiana apart from the rest of the country and keeps people coming back year after year. Louisiana is a state filled with rich culture and heritage and Mardi Gras is just one of the many things that highlights what the wonderful state of Louisiana has to offer.
Although the beads are absolutely beautiful, beads are not the reason that so many people from all walks of life come out to witness Mardi Gras. People attend Mardi Gras to witness a southern tradition that is unmatched in every other part of the country. New Orleans, the birth place of Mardi Gras, fills the streets for this festival year after year. Hotels all around town are booked months in advance even at astronomical prices, people from all over fly in to fill the streets of the famous French Quarter and indulge in everything it has to offer. Famous Bourbon Street is the most popular Mardi Gras location in all of New Orleans. It is lined with bars that do not close, filled with live jazz musicians in the street playing for little to no money, and provides an atmosphere that leaves people talking for months afterwards.
Mardi Gras is Louisiana’s trademark. In a society filled with numerous traditions, this one prevails over all the rest. It is the one thing that sets Louisiana apart from the rest of the country and keeps people coming back year after year. Louisiana is a state filled with rich culture and heritage and Mardi Gras is just one of the many things that highlights what the wonderful state of Louisiana has to offer.
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