50 Fun Facts About Mardi Gras Trivia for Kids

What does 'Mardi Gras' mean in French?

It is the last day for eating rich, fatty foods before the fasting season of Lent begins.

Mardi Gras always falls on the day before which day?

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, so Mardi Gras is the last big celebration before it.

In New Orleans, the Carnival season begins on which date?

That day is called Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmas.

What are the three traditional colors of Mardi Gras in New Orleans?

The Rex organization first suggested the colors in 1872, asking people to hang banners from their balconies.

Which krewe first chose the Mardi Gras colors before its first parade in 1872?

Rex still stages one of the biggest parades on Mardi Gras Day itself.

What is a 'krewe'?

The word was made up as an old-fashioned spelling of 'crew' by the Mistick Krewe of Comus.

Which is the oldest krewe in New Orleans, founded in 1856?

Comus was inspired by a parading society from Mobile, Alabama, and its full name is the Mistick Krewe of Comus.

Things tossed from parade floats to the crowd are called what?

They include plastic bead necklaces, coins called doubloons, cups and toys like Frisbees.

Which krewe is famous for throwing hand-painted coconuts?

Its members also wear grass skirts, and Zulu was the first parade to become racially integrated.

Which krewe famously began throwing glass beads to the crowd in the early 1900s?

Traditionally the beads were made in Japan and the Czech Republic; today most come from China.

Traditionally, Mardi Gras beads were made in the Czech Republic and which other country?

Now most of the plastic necklaces are imported from mainland China.

A king cake traditionally has a tiny figurine or bean hidden inside representing whom?

Whoever finds it is crowned king or queen and often has to bring the next cake.

A king cake is linked to which Christian holiday celebrating the visit of the Three Kings?

It is eaten right through Carnival, from Epiphany until Ash Wednesday.

What comes with a store-bought king cake so the person who finds the hidden charm can be crowned?

The New Orleans version is a Creole cousin of the French galette des rois.

Which Mardi Gras parade has dogs in costumes as its participants?

Each year the dogs dress to a central theme, and their humans walk them through the French Quarter.

The all-female Krewe of Muses has a signature float shaped like what?

Its members also hand out decorated shoes as prized throws.

Which krewe's parade is the largest in New Orleans and ends inside the Superdome?

Its first parade rolled in 1967 in the Gentilly neighborhood near the racetrack.

Which krewe, founded in 1968, was the first to have celebrities ride in its parade?

It was started by restaurateur Owen Brennan Jr. and became one of the first 'super krewes'.

Which singer and pianist helped found the Krewe of Orpheus in 1993?

He founded it with his father, and released the album Smokey Mary for the krewe's 20th anniversary.

Flambeaux, who march carrying flaming torches, originally did what job?

They still twirl their torches for tips, a tradition that began before street lighting existed.

Mardi Gras Indians are famous for what?

The suits pay homage to Native Americans who sheltered runaway slaves, and they can take a whole year to sew.

French explorers first celebrated Mardi Gras in Louisiana in which year?

Iberville, Bienville and their men marked it near the mouth of the Mississippi River on March 2 that year.

Which Alabama city claims the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States, from 1703?

Masked balls, parades and throws all appeared there before New Orleans made them famous.

Which wrapped snack is a favorite parade throw in Alabama's oldest Carnival city?

Mobile floats also toss beads, doubloons, cups, stuffed animals and footballs.

Louisiana made Mardi Gras a legal state holiday in what year?

Schools and many businesses close, and the whole state celebrates, not only New Orleans.

In Cajun country, the Courir de Mardi Gras ends with people chasing what animal for the gumbo pot?

Riders in masks and costumes go from farm to farm begging for ingredients, a custom from medieval France.

In Britain, the day before Lent is best known for eating what?

People used up their eggs and butter before Lent, which is why it is also called Pancake Day.

The famous pancake race in Olney, England is said to have started in what year?

Legend says a housewife ran to church still holding her frying pan; Olney now races the town of Liberal, Kansas every year.

The day after Mardi Gras is named for the ashes that churchgoers receive where?

The ashes are made by burning palm leaves saved from the previous year's Palm Sunday.

Lent, the season that starts right after Mardi Gras, is described as lasting how many days?

It recalls the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and leads up to Easter.

The word 'Carnival' is thought to come from a Latin phrase meaning what?

Some say 'carne vale', farewell to meat, because meat was given up for Lent.

Which city hosts the biggest Carnival in the world, with about two million people a day in the streets?

More than 200 samba schools compete in the parades.

Groups of neighbors who dance together in Rio's Carnival parades are called what?

There are more than 200 of them in Rio, divided into five leagues, and the first Rio Carnival was in 1723.

The Carnival of Venice in Italy is most famous for what?

It was banned in 1797 and revived in 1979; about 3 million visitors now come each year.

At the Carnival of Binche in Belgium, performers called Gilles throw what at the crowd?

They wear costumes in Belgium's red, black and yellow, and the oranges are meant as good-luck gifts.

What is the traditional greeting shouted during Carnival in Cologne, Germany?

The biggest day is Rose Monday, two days before Ash Wednesday, with over a million people watching the parade.

In Italy, Mardi Gras is called Martedi Grasso. In Germany, Carnival is called Karneval or what?

German celebrations often stretch from Epiphany right up to the night before Ash Wednesday.

Maslenitsa, the Russian festival before Lent, is also known by which buttery name?

People eat piles of pancakes called blini and burn a straw effigy to say goodbye to winter.

Which 1954 song by the Hawketts, featuring a teenage Art Neville, is a New Orleans Carnival favorite?

Art Neville later helped found the Meters and the Neville Brothers.

Which is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, where many Carnival visitors gather?

It is also called the Vieux Carre, meaning 'Old Square', and the city grew around it after 1718.

Which two krewes' royal courts traditionally meet to close out Mardi Gras Day?

The 'Meeting of the Courts' takes place at the end of the night's balls, and Rex is the King of Carnival.

Zulu was the first New Orleans krewe to do what?

Its president in the 1970s and 80s recruited members from every background, making it the first racially integrated parade.

On Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, which parade rolls first, starting at 8 in the morning?

Rex follows behind as it turns onto St. Charles Avenue, and truck parades come after Rex.

What are the big coins made in Mardi Gras colors that riders toss from floats called?

Artist H. Alvin Sharpe invented the modern version in 1959 and threw a handful in the Rex captain's face to prove they were harmless.

When parades were cancelled in 2021, New Orleans families decorated their homes to look like what?

The idea was called 'house floats', and a Facebook group shared photos and maps so people could tour them safely.

In the New Orleans colors, purple stands for justice and gold for power. What does green stand for?

The colored sugar on a Louisiana king cake shows off all three colors on a ring of cinnamon-roll dough.

What must the person who finds the baby in a Louisiana king cake usually do?

Finding the tiny plastic baby is supposed to bring luck, but it also means hosting the next party or buying the next cake.

According to the legend, why did the first Olney pancake race happen in 1445?

She heard the church bells ringing for the service and dashed out of the house with the pan and pancake in her hand.

Which Kansas town has raced Olney, England, in the International Pancake Day race since 1950?

Each town runs the same measured course and then compares the times to find the winner.

How do the people of Scarborough, England, celebrate Pancake Day on the seafront?

Schools close early, traffic is banned from the foreshore, and the town crier rings the pancake bell to start the fun.