Oh So Interesting Mardi Gras Masks and Floats Tradition Tidbits

LAFAYETTE, La. - Dec. 10, 2013 - PRLog -- Read About the Many of Mardi Gras Floats and Masks Traditions

Learning about Mardi Gras floats and masks customs is interesting, entertaining, and even fun. One of the more popular and recognizable symbols of all the parades and celebrations of the Mardi Gras carnival are the colorful and distinctive masks. These masks, it is believed, dates back for centuries to the early European celebrations, and there are even those who think it is rooted even further back and associated with the pagan celebrations of Rome. Those unique Mardi Gras masks tend to lend an air of mystic, magic, and mystery to the revelry.

Expressing Opinions via Mardi Gras Masks

Mardi Gras carnival celebrations enable people to express opinions that perhaps they would not normally do and to behave in ways not usually considered appropriate. And for this, the Mardi Gras mask is essential, as they enable everyone to remain faceless and nameless. By wearing a mask, you can be somewhat out of control without fearing repercussions or ridicule, during times when being out of control is usually socially embraced and mandated. Anthropologists classify celebrations like Mardi Gras as regular mass pressure-release activities. It seems that entire communities tacitly agree that for three weeks out of the year, they'll shed the more rigorous rules of decorum and let it the good times roll.

Satire, Mockery, and Breaking Traditions – All Primary Elements of Mardi Gras Parades

The main parts of the entire Mardi Gras carnival includes mockery, satire, and breaking from tradition and propriety. The masks of Mardi Gras enable the Krewes to, symbolically, participate in social commentary that is sometimes irreverent and even shocking. For the 2006 Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, it was prevalent with commentaries regarding Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath. One Krewe, for example, even created a float expressing displeasure with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that cast blame on them for the levees failing that caused destructive flooding and numerous deaths. In fact, many of the 2006 Krewes satirized the federal government, and FEMA in particular, for what they considered mishandled this large-scale disaster.

Rules for Removing and Not Removing a Mardi Gras Mask

The Mardi Gras masks are so essential and party of these celebrations that in many of the Krewes, removing someone's mask during a parade can be grounds for immediate dismissal from that Krewe, regardless of the circumstances and with no questions asked. However, during the seasons, local businesses will usually post signs asking patrons to unmask in hopes of preventing crime before entering their store. Since it is a banking holiday, all banks are closed, so there is little fear of bank holdups.

Closing Ceremonies of Each Year of Mardi Gras in New Orleans

On and after Ash Wednesday, as Lent has begun, it is considered distasteful and outright rude to wear Mardi Gras beads and masks. Officially, at the stoke of midnight on Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras is over, and the police begin patrolling the streets of the French Quarter on horseback, asking revelers to leave the streets. These events have become a symbolic and anticipated signal that the parties are over, time to take the masks off, and the 'anything goes' and air of mystery dissipates until next year.

Read about Customizing Your Trendy Mardi Gras Party Invitation Cards, Creating Your Invitations Wordings for Mardi Gras Party at http://www.invitationsbyu.com/wording-mardi-gras-invitations.htm, Useful Etiquette for Mardi Gras, and lots more written by Sarah Porter for many blogs, publications, and websites like http://www.invitationsbyu.com