Mardi Gras was introduced to America in 1699 by the French explorer Iberville. Iberville landed in a spot approximately 60 miles south of where New Orleans is today, and since the day was the annual celebration of Mardi Gras in France, he named the spot Point du Mardi Gras. This holiday is quite similar to the celebration of Lupercalia, which was a festival celebrated by the Romans in ancient times. When Rome decided to incorporate Christianity into their culture, the Church fathers decided to meld the pagan holidays with the Christian ones, rather than doing away with them all together. Mardi Gras was one of the celebrations that was birthed from these new traditions.
     In English, the phrase Mardi Gras refers to the many events of the whole Carnival season. In French, the term means “Fat Tuesday”, while the English used to call it “Pancake Day”, or “Shrove Day”, in German, the term used is Fastnacht. Although Mardi Gras originated as a Catholic holiday, it has been adopted in a huge way by the Unites States, and is a huge party particularly in New Orleans and Louisiana.  Over the years, the celebration has grown into a festival with huge parades and parties, and regardless of the Hispanic Invasion, the holiday has not lost it French influence and “flavor.”
     The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are gold, which symbolizes power, green, which symbolizes faith, and purple, which symbolizes justice. The story behind these colors can be traced back to the Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff’s visit from Russia to New Orleans. The story states that he was selected to choose the official Mardi Gras colors by the Krewe of Rex. After being given this honor, these colors also became the official colors for the house of Romanoff. The colors for Mardi Gras have also become the choice of colors for the two rival schools Louisiana State and Tulane. As the story goes, the stores in New Orleans had filled their shelves with colored fabrics in preparation for the Mardi Gras festival. When the schools were choosing their fabrics, LSU took all the available purple and gold, so Tulane had to take what was left which was green. To this day, Louisiana is the only state in which Mardi Gras is an official holiday. However, carnivals floats and parades draw revelers to many other parts of the country, including Alabama and Mississippi. In the Brazilian city of Rio De Janerio, carnival is celebrated with the huge Samba Dromo parades which draw enormous crowds of people.
     Parties and masked balls have become a tradition in the celebration of Mardi Gras. The first balls were held as early as 1718, when the French were hosting them. The invitations to these elaborate parties were die-cut, and printed in Paris. Today, the invitations to these events are still created to look like works of art,and are made of colorful paper with fanciful designs. Many of the hosts of “Carnival”, do not have parades or floats at all, but hold only the masked parties and/or balls.
    Mardi Gras is a celebration with rich history, and is a festival that can be found being celebrated in places all over the world.