Beads, beans and babies - oh my!

So for the three of you out there who doesn't know my love for most things French and how I do enjoy the city of New Orleans - you might be surprised to know that I'm celebrating my Mardi Gras today.

It's that fun bead-flinging time of year and a fun celebration before we head into Lent.

But it's FAR more than just beads and a party. Want to know what? I'm so glad you asked...

Here's some compiled history of Mardi Gras, Pancake Day, the King's Cake and all fun things related to Carnival.

Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday"), also called Shrove Tuesday, is the day before Ash Wednesday. It is the final day of Carnival It is a celebration that is held just before the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, and amongst Anglicans in Canada, this day is also known as Pancake Day, because it is customary to eat pancakes on this day. In other parts of the world -- for example, in areas with large Polish-immigrant populations like Chicago and Detroit it is known as Paczki Day.

The reason that pancakes (or paczkis) are associated with the day preceding Lent is that the 40 days of Lent form a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs can be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, sugar and flour are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes were therefore the perfect way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself.

Shrove Tuesday (The word shrove is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance) is the last day of "shrovetide," which is the English equivalent to the Carnival tradition that developed separately out of the countries of Latin Europe.

In countries of the Carnival tradition, the day before Ash Wednesday is known either as the "Tuesday of Carnival" (in Spanish-speaking countries, "Martes de Carnaval," in Portuguese-speaking countries, "Terça-feira de Carnaval" or "Terça feita gorda") or "Fat Tuesday" (in French-speaking countries, "Mardi Gras," in Italian-speaking countries, "Martedì Grasso").
The term "Shrove Tuesday" is not widely known in the United States, especially in those regions which celebrate Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras arrived in North America with the Le Moyne brothers, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisianne. The two explorers eventually found the mouth of the Mississippi River, sailed a while upstream and named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (French: "Mardi Gras Point") 60 miles downriver from present-day New Orleans. In 1699, the traditional Catholic celebration ensued leading to what many refer to as "North America's first Mardi Gras".

In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved, due to fear of tides and hurricanes, to an inland harbor town founded 1718 called "Nouvelle-Orléans" (New Orleans), and the tradition, which had started 20 years earlier in Mobile, was expanded. Nearly 125 years after Mobile's first parade of 1711, a krewe from Mobile, the Cowbellion de Rakin Society (1830), began the first known parades in New Orleans (1835). Over the passing decades, following their European customs, Carnival celebrations took place in all towns and cities in the colony.

A king cake is a type of cake associated with Carnival traditions. It is popular in Carnival season in the area of the US which celebrates Carnival. The cakes have a small trinket (usually a small plastic baby) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations. The tradition was brought to the area by colonists from France and Spain. King cake parties in New Orleans are documented back to the eighteenth century.

The king cake of the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted bread similar to that used in brioche, topped with icing or sugar, usually coloured purple, green, and gold (the traditional Carnival colors). Some varieties have filling inside, the most common being cream cheese followed by praline.

The "king cake" takes its name from the three kings and that they arrived to honor the Christ child on Epiphany. The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Epiphany Day), through to Mardi Gras Day. Some organizations or groups of friends may have "king cake parties" every week through the Carnival season.

The traditional trinket in the cake is a bean, still seen in some European traditions but rare in U.S. king cakes. Since the 1950s, the most common trinket has been a small plastic baby. Many people say this represents the baby Jesus, tied in to the connection with Epiphany. Many people attach no particular religious significance to the cake or trinket. The "baby in the king cake" was said to have become common after a local bakery chain got a large shipment of such plastic baby dolls from Hong Kong very cheaply in the 1950s, and some people say there is little further significance to the baby, but earlier ceramic baby dolls as trinkets are documented in New Orleans back to at least the 1930s.

The person who gets the trinket is declared king or queen of the party, sometimes given a paper, plastic, or costume jewelry crown or tiara. Sometimes there are separate cakes to select the male and female royalty; the one for women is sometimes called a queen cake. The monarch is usually obligated to supply the next king cake or host the next party or both.

So go live up your Mardi Gras today. Enjoy some fun festivities, wear some beads and eat some King's Cake. Or if nothing else, at least eat some pancakes and practice this New Orleans/Cajun French phrase - "Laissez les bons temps rouler" - or Let the good times roll!