Mardi Gras in the United States

For Mardi Gras dates through 2050, see Shrove Tuesday ยง Dates.

For broader coverage of this topic, see Carnival and Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras in the United States is celebrated in a number of cities and regions in the country. Most of these places trace their Mardi Gras celebrations to French, Spanish, and other Catholic colonial influences on the settlements over their history.

One of the earliest Carnival observations in North America is said to have occurred at a place on the west bank of the Mississippi River about 60 miles (97 km) downriver from where New Orleans is today. This Mardi Gras was observed on March 3, 1699, and in honor of this holiday, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, a 38-year-old French Canadian, named the spot Point du Mardi Gras ("Mardi Gras Point") near Fort Jackson. D'Iberville's journals make no reference to any celebration taking place at Point du Mardi Gras, and the first attributed celebration of the holiday in North America took place near present-day Mobile, Alabama in 1703.

The earliest organized Carnival celebrations occurred in Mobile, then the capitol of French Louisiana known as Fort Louis de la Mobile, where in 1704 the first known Carnival secret society (Masque de la Mobile) was formed. In 1856, six Protestant businessmen established the first secret society, or krewe, in New Orleans, the Mistick Krewe of Comus.

Former French and Spanish colonies such as Pensacola, Biloxi, and settlements along the Gulf Coast all followed suit in incorporating Carnival into their annual celebrations, which today have developed either separate traditions or variations of them from one another. In addition, modern activities generally vary from city to city across the U.S.

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