mardi gras coloring pages

Mardi Gras is now in full swing here in New Orleans.  The official Mardi Gras is next Tuesday, better known as Fat Tuesday, but we are already in our third week of parades.  Here are some fun Mardi Gras coloring pages to get in the spirit.  Laissez les bon temps roulez! (Let the good times roll!)

For a little history of Mardi Gras:

 A festival brought to Louisiana from Paris, France, the first daytime parade held in New Orleans was in 1838.  Although most think of floats, beads, and costumes, Mardi Gras is in fact a religious celebration.  The Carnival season was created as a time when people have fun before beginning the Lenten season of fasting which leads to Easter Sunday.

During the Lenten season. followers of Catholicism are not supposed to eat meat on Fridays.  Traditionally, on the Tuesday before Lent begins they celebrated by eating all the meat they had in storage.  This is why it is called Mardi Gras, which means "Fat Tuesday."

The colors associated with this annual festival are purple ("justice"), green ("faith"), and gold ("power").