Carnival season culminated Tuesday with Mardi Gras parades, street parties and what amounted to a massive outdoor costume festival around the bars and restaurants of New Orleans’ French Quarter. 

Revelers in capes, wigs, spandex and feathers danced in front of St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square while Latin music blared. 

Outside the narrow streets of the quarter, two tradition-rich parades rolled on a route that took them through the city’s Uptown neighborhood and onto Canal Street in the business district. First came the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, with marchers and riders in African-inspired garb handing out the century-old club’s signature gift — hand-decorated coconuts.

Later, Rex, King of Carnival, rolled down St. Charles, stopping for a ceremonial toast at a historic downtown building with Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

What is Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras — or Fat Tuesday — is a secular holiday, but it’s tied to Christian and Roman Catholic traditions. It always falls the day before Ash Wednesday and is seen as a final day of feasting and revelry before the solemnity of Lent.

“I was raised Catholic, so tomorrow’s for repenting but today is for partying,” Bethany Kraft, a regular visitor from Mobile, Alabama, said as she waited for parades with her husband Alex.

New Orleans has the nation’s largest and best known Carnival celebration, replete with traditions beloved by locals. It’s also a vital boost to the city’s tourist-driven economy — always evident in the French Quarter.

“No strangers down here,” visitor Renitta Haynes of Chattanooga, Tennessee, said as she watched costumed revelers on Bourbon Street over the weekend. “Everybody is very friendly and approachable. I love that.”

The festivities started earlier in the month, with a series of parades and festivities culminating on Mardi Gras Day.

New Orleans is not alone in going big on Mardi Gras. Mobile, Alabama, where six parades were scheduled Tuesday, lays claim to the nation’s oldest Mardi Gras celebration. 

Other lavish Carnival celebrations in Brazil, the Caribbean and Europe are world renowned.

Carnival in Brazil

Carnival has a long and colorful history in Brazil. A typical Carnival day there starts around 7 a.m., when the first blocos — as the free street parties are known — start their loud and colorful musical journey down the city’s streets.

Drummers, stilt walkers, trumpet players and other performers, all dressed up and lacquered in glitter, attract thousands of followers.

Blocos are thematic, inspiring the costumes and songs of their followers. In Rio alone, the city authorized 500 street parties this year.

From the different street parties, which usually end in the evening, some revelers move onto the Sambadrome, where samba schools parade and compete to win the annual title.

Carnival dancers in Rio de Janeiro this year paid tribute to Brazil’s largest Indigenous group and pressured President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to deliver on promises to eradicate illegal mining.

Carnival has long been a platform for samba schools to protest. Percussionists had “Miners out” written across the skins of their drums as participants marched through the Sambadrome on Sunday evening, delivering their message to more than 70,000 revelers and millions watching live on television.

Each city has its unique Carnival customs. Revelers in traditional costumes filled the streets of Sao Paulo for what’s known as the Galo da Madrugada, or Dawn Rooster, parade.