Boarding Gate 101

It was on a chilly February afternoon when I experienced my first Mardi Gras celebration two years ago. The festival was held in Soulard, a historic French neighborhood in St. Louis. The festival in Soulard is said to be the second largest in the United States after the more famous one in New Orleans. One thing that sets it apart from the one in Louisiana is that it is celebrated on a Saturday before Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French), instead of the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  It is said that originally people celebrated in wanton abandon the day before Ash Wednesday because they are no longer allowed to do such the next day, until the end of Easter.  The festivities attract large crowds, with people participating numbering in thousands. There are parades, open bars, music and alcohol to enliven the festival.  Alcoholic beverages such as beer, Jell-O shots and hurricane cocktails are freely consumed during the festivity, in the streets and in the ...

Revelers, bedecked with colorful garlands and beads, join the festivities during the Mardi Gras in the historic French neighborhood of Soulard, St. Louis.  Mardi gras, which means "Fat Tuesday" in French, is a celebration done before the advent of Lent (which starts on Ash Wednesday). Colorful trinkets - such as necklaces of beads and garlands and known as Mardi gras throws - are given or thrown out to the spectators from the floats and houses during the celebration, moreso if women bare their bosoms. I had fun collecting loads of bead necklaces, but without baring anything (as it was just the end of winter and too cold out).  by Kin Enriquez