The French phrase Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” and refers to the last day but it also refers to the entire season.
Mardi Gras is famous for its large parading groups, called Krewes, that go through the
The French phrase Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” and refers to the last day but it also refers to the entire season.
Mardi Gras is famous for its large parading groups, called Krewes, that go through the city throwing tons of colorful plastic beads to the crowds.
Some of the larger parading groups can have more than two dozen giant floats and over 1000 riders, all enthusiastically throwing “beads”. The parades begin to ramp up during the two weeks prior to Fat Tuesday.
A brief language lesson: In New Orleans, the words “bead or beads” often refers to the bead necklaces that are thrown from the floats. In this context, it does not refer to a single bead.
It requires a lot of throws when the parade route is five miles long and lined five and six deep with people on both sides.
The tradition of throwing trinkets to the crowds began in the 1870s.
In the early years, throws were few and simple, such as candy or small metal or porcelain trinkets.
After WWII, plastic beads began to appear. In the 1960s, besides the plastic beads, necklaces made of glass beads from Czechoslovakia were thrown in large numbers. These 