Imagine a world where one can dress, act and be who they want to be; with streets filled to the brim with people carelessly having a good time.  This world can be found every year, and it is called Mardi Gras.
“It’s Louisiana’s idea that life is hard, life is trying, let’s have a good time,” said Charles Elliott, a professor in the History  and Political Science Department, summing up Mardi Gras.
Despite their reasons for celebrating the holiday, anybody can find a place in the Mardi Gras season.  Families slice into a king cake sprinkled with purple, green and gold, hoping to find a plastic, hidden baby.  Friends dance, dress up and walk the streets of New Orleans.  Beads can be caught; food is available up and down the streets.  The city is alive.
“New Orleans is just the tip top of success and fun and frivolity and silliness and just intense pursuit of a real good time,” continued Elliott.  “We do a party like nobody else in America does a party.  People come down here and they’re just astounded we do this openly, publicly.”
Mardi Gras is openly and visibly a great party, but many agreed there is something about the holiday that brings out something more meaningful and memorable than a good time.
“It’s a great time to be weird and yourself because everyone else is,” said Nick Salvetti, a freshman visual arts major.
Not only does the holiday encourage self-expression, but it brings people together.  Mardi Gras cannot only be a prime time for old friendships to bond, but for new ones to blossom.
“Preferably I’ll be spending Mardi Gras with people I really enjoy,” said Chance Phillips, a freshman English major.  “I’ll make a lot of friends in the process, people I know just for the night.  Just those special night-long friendships, you know?   Things like that.  Maybe fall in love once or twice.”
Although many people celebrate Mardi Gras, many still don’t know what it means or why it is celebrated.  According to Elliott, there is not just one reason for Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, and although New Orleans is the prime spot it is recognized, Mardi Gras is celebrated all over the world.
“You ate hardy, you partied hardy, you drank hardy on Mardi Gras because you knew you had a slot until the spring was there so it’s religious and environmental,” explained Elliott.
For many, Mardi Gras is the last day to celebrate and feast
before the 40 day fast of Lent.  In other cultures or areas, Mardi Gras was similarly a last great feast, but was celebrated as a jump into the spring season.
According to Elliott, a Mardi Gras in colonial times was very similar to today.  People would eat, wear masks, play music and dance.  On the last day, the last of the winter cattle would be slaughtered.  
“Right from the get go, it may just be a wagon, but it was a float,” said Elliott, comparing Mardi Gras of different times.  “People would be having drinks, acting crazy, having a good time.  All in the quarter, all this elaborateness, I think you can trace down to a very simple, very humble, colonial beginning.  But it’s still the same thing.”
The dynamic energy of Mardi Gras grew as Louisiana’s society became wealthier and the people became more elaborate.  The wagon became a float, but the impact of the celebration on the people remained constant.
“You can look at the crowds, look at the floats, look at the whole extravaganza of the party and say, it’s just that,” concluded Elliott.  “But if you got a tutored eye about this, you can say this is the same thing.  They were doing this in 1699; they were doing this in 1720.  They were doing it over and over again for pretty much the same reasons: having a good time, community spirit, religious belief, change of the weather.”