We just took down Christmas and now it’s already time to put up Mardi Gras. Here’s some helpful information on when Carnival starts and how Mardi Gras Day is decided:
Each year on Jan. 6, as other Americans are taking down their Christmas decorations, residents in New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf South start hanging Mardi Gras beads and ordering their favorite king cakes.
As the name suggests, Twelfth Night always comes twelve days after Christmas, no matter where Fat Tuesday falls on the calendar. Though the tradition has evolved into a night of revelry and a kickoff to the celebratory season, the holiday’s roots lie in Christianity.
In the Christian tradition, Twelfth Night is also known as the Epiphany. On this day, believers celebrate the Magi, aka the three kings, visiting baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
But some historians say the post-Christmas celebration stretches back even further to Roman and Celtic times.
Twelfth Night celebrations reached their height during medieval times, according to a 2021 article form History.com. The day served as the exciting end to the Christmas season and as a time when social cues were turned upside down as mischief and revelry were celebrated.
Feasts, drinking and dancing were all commonplace during this day, and Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night,” a romantic comedy, is set during this holiday.
Europeans living in the Middle Ages also celebrated the holiday with a special cake that contained a bean or another trinket hidden inside. Whoever found the trinket was king or queen for the day and would be responsible for hosting the party next year. Sound familiar?
The Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc parades through the French Quarter of New Orleans on Saturday, January 6, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
How it’s celebrated now
Instead of being the culmination of the Christmas holiday, Twelfth Night in New Orleans is just the beginning of a season full of parties, merriment and costumes.
From there, parades and celebrations will continue throughout Carnival season until Mardi Gras Day, which lands on March 4 in 2025.
New Orleans residents and visitors will be able to don purple, green and gold for a little longer during the 2025 Mardi Gras season, which will last over twice as long as last year’s celebrations.
Longer season this year:
The beginning of Carnival season always takes place on Jan. 6, the 12th night after Christmas. But the actual Mardi Gras holiday depends on Easter and the moon.
Mardi Gras is celebrated the day before the Christian holiday of Ash Wednesday. This year, it won’t happen until March 4, leaving revelers with over eight weeks to celebrate the season.
Last year, Mardi Gras fell on Feb. 13, limiting the Carnival season to just 28 days.
The variance in the season’s length all has to do with the moon’s lunar cycle.
Fat Tuesday routinely falls 47 days before Easter (since Sundays are not counted in the 40 days of Lent), and is held the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.
An equinox, known as the vernal equinox during spring, occurs when the sun is directly above the equator and day and night are of equal length. This happens twice a year, once in March and once in September.
This year, the spring equinox is March 20, and the first full moon to follow it will be April 13. That means Easter will fall on the next Sunday, April 20, leaving us with a March Mardi Gras date.
For those already planning next year’s celebration too, Mardi Gras 2026 will occur on Feb. 17. based on this calendar.”
We braved the chilly weather on Monday (Twelfth Night) to greet the Phunny Phorty Phellows short streetcar parade. It’s one of those where you wait around for a while and then it’s past in a minute. Diana had constructed a special hat from various prior year accoutrements. I sported the new purple hat the boys gave me for Christmas.
Before braving the cold, we watched the memorial services attended by President and Jill Biden. They laid flowers at the Bourbon Street memorial, met with families, and then attended a multi-faith service at St. Louis cathedral.
Gail Benson carried the first tribute candle down the aisle, followed by relatives and friends of those lost:
The President gave a short and effective speech to end the very sad proceedings.
Tuesday was mostly consumed with Diana’s back surgery. We arrived at the hospital at 9am and left a little after 4pm. The actual procedure didn’t take too much over an hour. Here’s McD with her space blanket prior to being rolled off to the holding area:
I was confident I had time to sneak out for breakfast and tried the Bearcat Cafe – just a few hundred feet from the hospital. I enjoyed the food and thought it was a bit expensive and overly hipstery. I did manage to get some good reading and viewing time in the waiting room for several hours. The colour coded system to tell you what was happening with the patient, and the text messaging system, worked spottily.
I talked to the surgeon right after she finished and she reported that all had gone well. The bulging section of the disc was larger than she had anticipated (MRI was from a few months ago), but she got it all out. Diana seems to be recovering quite well.
Meanwhile, in Steamboat, Colorado, the Ogans and Kirsches were enjoying the first sunny day of their ski trip:
How’s Hamish doing these days? Well, based on these photos, he seems to be blossoming very nicely:
On Thursday, we took the dressing off Diana’s incision site and cleaned off the iodine and left over glue from the EKG stickers. All looks good and her recovery seems to be going very well. Just a bit of lingering pain at the incision site if she sits on a seat that puts pressure on it.
Frenchy has a painting of Jon Batiste at the 2024 Jazzfest that I think would look great behind my piano. I had been in touch with him, and he said to go by the gallery and look at in the window. We did that but couldn’t see it – typical Frenchy. I’ll swing by when the gallery opens again on Monday.
Since we were on Oak Street, we stopped into Juan’s Flying Burrito for lunch. Their Luau quesadilla (shrimp, bacon, etc) is always delicious. After that we returned home and then walked over to Aidan Gill for a haircut for me (somewhat overdue, but not as much as a beard trim according to McD.)
I finished up the day by hanging the Mardi Gras flag and bunting.
Diana tried out her new puzzle board and Christmas puzzles as she recuperated. The penguin puzzle has so many interestingly shaped pieces – lots of penguins. Diana left one piece for me to finish – a la Denny.
On Friday we made a visit to the New Orleans Athletic Club and then enjoyed lunch at 1,000 figs. Their falafel plate is excellent and plenty to split between two.
We had the guys and Kara over to watch the UT and Ohio State game on Friday night. Diana made pigs in the blanket, wings and jambalaya. Thom brought some Midway pizzas. We were well fed, even if the result of the game wasn’t to our liking.
On Saturday, we made a trip over to Bright Eyes Optique for Diana to check out new contacts and for us both to get new lenses and frames with our new prescriptions. Diana got some fun purple coloured sunglasses.
Diana finished her second puzzle (minus the “Denny piece”) – this one is of the flatirons behind Boulder.
I watched a few entertaining movies this week. The first “Feast of the Seven Fishes” was a direct flashback to Christmas Eve – some classic scenes that took me directly to the kitchen at 1, Gyspy Hill Rd, Pacifica.
Then, “The Company You Keep” with an amazing ensemble cast – Robert Redford, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Shia LeBeouf, Nick Nolte, Anna Kendrick, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper. Are you kidding me? It’s as if they asked me for several of my favourite actors and put them all together in a movie. I’m not sure the story lived up to all the star power, but it was an entertaining watch:
And finally, “Brexit – The Uncivil War”. This was a good insight into the work done behind the scenes that swayed the vote towards “Leave.” Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent as always, and the story provides some great views into what might have happened:
I finished Amor Towles “Table for Two” this week. So many folks have told me they either liked the short stories, or the novella, but nobody liked both. I really enjoyed all of it. “I Will Survive” and “The Bootlegger” were my favourites of the short stories. Towles characters and observations are just so well done.
I finished up the “Wonder of Stevie” podcast series – highly recommended. This horn section intro always makes me smile:
I listened to “Innervisions” and “Songs in the Key of Life” this week. Such amazing music, and to think he played the majority of the instruments on all of these in his early twenties.
Something from the new Mark Knopfler release – he just keeps turning out great music with his unmatched guitar:
Since we were on Oak Street, we stopped into Juan’s Flying Burrito for lunch. Their Luau quesadilla (shrimp, bacon, etc) is always delicious. After that we returned home and then walked over to Aidan Gill for a haircut for me (somewhat overdue, but not as much as a beard trim according to McD.)
I finished Amor Towles “Table for Two” this week. So many folks have told me they either liked the short stories, or the novella, but nobody liked both. I really enjoyed all of it. “I Will Survive” and “The Bootlegger” were my favourites of the short stories. Towles characters and observations are just so well done.