Mardi Gras Is Here! Happy Fat Tuesday!
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In the United States, Mardi Gras is the Carnival celebration that ends on the day before Ash Wednesday, which signifies the beginning of Lent. For the most part, Mardi Gras has come to mean the entire season between Ephipany/Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras was first celebrated in North America on March 3, 1699 by French Catholic settlers exploring the mouth of the Mississippi River. Over the course of the next 50 years, the celebration spread throughout the French Catholic region of the Southeastern U.S., to include Biloxi, MS; Mobile, AL, and of course, New Orleans, LA. Originally a simple celebration in honor of the last days before Lent, Mardi Gras has come to embody a time of extravagant pleasure, and has generally lost its religious significance. Also, the celebration has spread to parts of the world which are not traditionally Catholic. Nonetheless, Mardi Gras has been celebrated in the United States for the last 310 years.
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not in the US but in the Northern Continent.
[...] is actually the state that introduced Mardi Gras to the U.S, with the holiday Shrove [...]