In New Orleans they celebrate Mardi Gras, a huge celebration. Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”. This tradition has continued for over three centuries. It was first introduced by the French in Louisiana. They based the celebration on aristocratic European traditions of the masquerade balls. Brunetta, a student at Hamilton from Louisiana, tells us:

It’s basically like everybody gets dressed up and forget about all your problems. You just go out and have fun and everybody’s just together and… like, people do floats and like designs and stuff, of the masks that you see, are regular things that Mardi Gras’ about. They like drill teams, they do dances and cheerleading, they do their thing. And schools get involved too.

Mardi Gras is celebrated throughout the United States, yet it is in New Orleans and smaller towns in Louisiana that this colorful, intricate street party happens – it literally “pops out” at you. Courtney, another Hamilton student from New Orleans, said:

Mardi Gras is like, when, they had these big boxcars, and they decorate ‘em and they give themselves names and people dress up in costumes and stuff and they throw out beads and cups and little sticks... And so, it’s like a whole bunch of people. And then the parade, It’s just not floats, it’s like people, like firepeople throwin’ out beads and candy, like big ol’ firetrucks and people in cars, and there’s drill teams, tap teams, and cheerleaders.

Mardi Gras is also a time for people to have an awesome good time and to chill out.

So all the audience and stuff – and people be out there, they be barbecuin’, they be cookin’, they’d be sellin’ a whole buncha stuff. They camp out in their campers, and they camp out for like a night or two to get front-row seats to see everything. And this just happen in like towns, and so New Orleans, it would be just like even bigger but, you camp out everywhere.

Mardi Gras celebrations also tend to connect to their community and schools. Lary Barilleau, a teacher at Hamilton, whose family is from New Orleans, explains:

One thing they do is they sort of do some activities beforehand getting ready for it in the schools, like making masks or banners and posters and stuff. They get out of school a couple of days early, and then they get four or five days off

By building community, Mardi Gras brings people together.

For the most part, everybody's getting along, black and white, right, young and old, and people forget about their differences. They just have fun. It's a beautiful time.

One thing we’ve wondered about is how Katrina would affect Mardi Gras this year.

They’re all still gonna have fun even thought they lost – lost some things, and you know, just feel bad about it. And they lost family members and people are hurt and stuff, but they’re still just gonna act like it’s just regular Mardi Gras just have fun with it. And worry about this stuff later.

Even though it is a city tradition, things looked different. There just aren’t as many people in New Orleans this year. Many power lines are still damaged. There wasn’t the time or money to create as many floats for the parades. But still, people felt that Mardi Gras must continue.

It’s just like everybody having fun and just – in the middle of the street, nobody fighting or anything, and the police and firepeople get involved with their little cars, and they make signs on theirs and decorate their cars sometimes. So it’s basically like a funtime for everybody, just forget about everything, even Hurricane Katrina. They just have fun.

Mardi Gras is about the people and the community. It is a tradition that will continue for many years to come.