February 27th...This Day in History (Now with links to other events)

New Orleanians take to the streets for Mardi Gras 1827

 

 

On this day in 1827, a group of masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of the city’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations.

The celebration of Carnival–or the weeks between Twelfth Night on January 6 and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian period of Lent–spread from Rome across Europe and later to the Americas. Nowhere in the United States is Carnival celebrated as grandly as in New Orleans, famous for its over-the-top parades and parties for Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday), the last day of the Carnival season.

Though early French settlers brought the tradition of Mardi Gras to Louisiana at the end of the 17th century, Spanish governors of the province later banned the celebrations. After Louisiana became part of the United States in 1803, New Orleanians managed to convince the city council to lift the ban on wearing masks and partying in the streets. The city’s new Mardi Gras tradition began in 1827 when the group of students, inspired by their experiences studying in Paris, donned masks and jester costumes and staged their own Fat Tuesday festivities.

The parties grew more and more popular, and in 1833 a rich plantation owner named Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville raised money to fund an official Mardi Gras celebration. After rowdy revelers began to get violent during the 1850s, a secret society called the Mistick Krewe of Comus staged the first large-scale, well-organized Mardi Gras parade in 1857.

Over time, hundreds of krewes formed, building elaborate and colorful floats for parades held over the two weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday. Riders on the floats are usually local citizens who toss “throws” at passersby, including metal coins, stuffed toys or those now-infamous strands of beads. Though many tourists mistakenly believe Bourbon Street and the historic French Quarter are the heart of Mardi Gras festivities, none of the major parades have been allowed to enter the area since 1979 because of its narrow streets.

In February 2006, New Orleans held its Mardi Gras celebrations despite the fact that Hurricane Katrina had devastated much of the city with massive flooding the previous August. Attendance was at only 60-70 percent of the 300,000-400,000 visitors who usually attend Mardi Gras, but the celebration marked an important step in the recovery of the city, which counts on hospitality and tourism as its single largest industry.

 

 (More Events on This Day in History)

• American Revolution

• 1776 Patriots score early victory at Moores Creek, North

• Automotive

• 1934 Auto safety crusader Ralph Nader born

• Civil War

• 1864 Federal prisoners begin arriving at Andersonville

• Cold War

• 1972 “Shanghai Communique” issued

• Crime

• 1991 Video recreates the crime

• Disaster

• 1943 Mine explosion kills 74 in Montana

• General Interest

• 1897 Britain recognizes U.S. authority over Western Hemisphere
• 1922 Supreme Court defends women’s voting rights
• 1964 Leaning Tower needs help
• 1973 AIM occupation of Wounded Knee begins

• Hollywood

• 1936 Shirley Temple receives $50,000 per film

• Literary

• 1915 The Valley of Fear is published

• Music

• 1980 “I Will Survive” wins the first—and last—Grammy ever awarded for Best Disco Recording

• Old West

• 1973 AIM takes Wounded Knee

• Presidential

• 1860 Mathew Brady photographs presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln

• Sports

• 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team beats Soviet Union

• Vietnam War

• 1962 Diem survives coup attempt
• 1965 United States assails North Vietnamese “aggression”
• 1969 Communist offensive continues

• World War I

• 1916 Austrians occupy Durazzo in Albania

• World War II

• 1942 U.S. aircraft carrier Langley is sunk