How it got started
         The Colors
         The King Cake
         Mardi Gras Madness
Name                         Meaning                       Language 
Mardi Gras              Fat Tuesday                         French 
Carnival              Farewell to the Flesh                   Latin 
Shrove Tues.      Confession Tues.                    English 
Fastnatch               Eve of the Fast                    German
         
      Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French) is the day before Ash Wednesday (the beginning of the Lent season).   Traditionaly in some denominationas   people  give up something for Lent (to symbolize
Christ's fast in the dessert  Luke 4:1-13).
   Fat Tuesday comes from the tradition of giving up fat/lard for Lent (they would have feasts to use up all the lard/fat in the house).
    Carnival comes from the tradition of giving up meat for Lent . People that did this would have a feast and use all the meat in the house.

                  So , how'd it get turn into a part where anything goes ? I really don't have any idea .
I'm looking it up now :@ )
         
       

                    The Colors
Green   stands for faith
Purle for Justice
Gold (yellow) for Power
                       
                    The King Cake
In European countries, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. The celebration, called Epiphany, Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night, is a time of exchanging gifts and feasting. All over the world people gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. One of the most popular customs is still the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings..."A King's Cake."
Tradition has now evolved through time to obligate the person who receives the baby (inside every King Cake!) to continue the festivities by hosting another king cake party.
The King Cake is made with a rich Danish dough, baked and covered with a poured sugar topping and decorated with the traditional Mardi Gras-colored sugars. The end result is a delicious and festive cake in traditional Mardi Gras colors: Purple, Green, and Gold, . Hundreds of thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties every year, making the King Cake another fine Louisiana tradition. A Mardi Gras party just wouldn't be a Mardi Gras party without a King Cake!
Today in New Orleans, the King Cake is an oval-shaped braided coffee cake which is decorated with cinnamon sugar in the official Mardi Gras colors - and contains a tiny plastic baby that has replaced the coin used in medieval times. The person who gets the slice of cake with the baby in it must host the next party; at some parties, they are crowned king or queen.

Mardi Gras

         How it got started
         The Colors
         The King Cake
         Mardi Gras Madness
Name                         Meaning                       Language 
Mardi Gras              Fat Tuesday                         French 
Carnival              Farewell to the Flesh                   Latin 
Shrove Tues.      Confession Tues.                    English 
Fastnatch               Eve of the Fast                    German
         
      Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French) is the day before Ash Wednesday (the beginning of the Lent season).   Traditionaly in some denominationas   people  give up something for Lent (to symbolize
Christ's fast in the dessert  Luke 4:1-13).
   Fat Tuesday comes from the tradition of giving up fat/lard for Lent (they would have feasts to use up all the lard/fat in the house).
    Carnival comes from the tradition of giving up meat for Lent . People that did this would have a feast and use all the meat in the house.

                  So , how'd it get turn into a part where anything goes ? I really don't have any idea .
I'm looking it up now :@ )
         
       

                    The Colors
Green   stands for faith
Purle for Justice
Gold (yellow) for Power
                       
                    The King Cake
In European countries, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. The celebration, called Epiphany, Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night, is a time of exchanging gifts and feasting. All over the world people gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. One of the most popular customs is still the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings..."A King's Cake."
Tradition has now evolved through time to obligate the person who receives the baby (inside every King Cake!) to continue the festivities by hosting another king cake party.
The King Cake is made with a rich Danish dough, baked and covered with a poured sugar topping and decorated with the traditional Mardi Gras-colored sugars. The end result is a delicious and festive cake in traditional Mardi Gras colors: Purple, Green, and Gold, . Hundreds of thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties every year, making the King Cake another fine Louisiana tradition. A Mardi Gras party just wouldn't be a Mardi Gras party without a King Cake!
Today in New Orleans, the King Cake is an oval-shaped braided coffee cake which is decorated with cinnamon sugar in the official Mardi Gras colors - and contains a tiny plastic baby that has replaced the coin used in medieval times. The person who gets the slice of cake with the baby in it must host the next party; at some parties, they are crowned king or queen.