Everyone is familiar with Mardi Gras.

From the beads, to the green, purple, and gold that cover everything, Mardi Gras is an annual tradition.

The holiday is celebrated all over the world. Little do you know that it started in France.

What does Mardi Gras even mean?

It is French for Fat Tuesday.

Over the years Mardi Gras spread around the world, with each place inheriting its own traditions. One place where the tradition is still much alive, is in New Orleans, Louisiana. Other places include St. Louis, France, and parts of Canada. 

Most places inherited the big parade ideal as part of a Mardi Gras tradition, but it used to have a purpose.

The purpose was to go around and gather ingredients for gumbo.

Small towns would all gather and then go door to door as for ingredients which include onions, flour, carrots, celery, and of course, chicken.

The chicken is the main piece, and the hardest to get. There used to be a chicken chase where the group of people would run around trying to capture the chicken.

Once all the ingredients were gathered, they would prepare the gumbo and participate in other festivities.

The main purpose of Mardi Gras though, is to get red for Ash Wednesday.

This means, all the festivities end exactly at midnight, concluding Mardi Gras.

The French used Mardi Gras as a way to celebrate and indulge before having to abstain from certain foods for Lent, which starts on the Wednesday after.

This year Ash Wednesday is on Feb 13.

For more information about the traditions and how they started, visit Bethany Johnson,  French teacher in room 232.