It's Mardi Gras big time tonight

Well, come on down to New Orleans over the next week and a half and enjoy Mardi Gras. The season actually begins January 6th on the original Feast of the Epiphany or 12th night. Until the big parades start rolling most of the action is grand masquerade balls and copious consumption of king cake. But tonight the big show begins and will not end until Fat Tuesday, March 8th. Every day between now and then the parades will be rolling across New Orleans, the suburbs and many other places in south Louisiana.

While uniquely ours, Mardi Gras can be a blessing and a curse. The event can be a wonderful family time with the emphasis on delighting the children. The thrill of a marching band, the horse units and those big Mardi Gras parade floats packed with maskers tossing beads and trinkets is's a magical memory for many a child. Mardi Gras can also be gross. Yep, downright gross. That's ashame because it should be a wonderful family and cultural celebration; and often it is. But sometimes overly zealous adults and totally misguided and uninformed tourists think Mardi Gras is a good excuse for an all out orgy or worse. Some human behavior exhibited at Mardi Gras is hard to describe as human. Like everything else our celebration of the Carnival season can be hijacked by just a few. Over here on the wonderful Northshore area of New Orleans the celebration is always tamer than across the lake. Many communities host walking parades and come as you are events that see tractors and trailers replacing floats. In any event, Mardi Gras can be tons of fun and should be a family event!

Many who come down south to celebrate this tradition would be shocked to know that there is a religious twist to all of this. With the beginnings of the season on the Epiphany and it's grand farewell on the day before Ash Wednesday, it is meant to be spiritual in nature. The allowance of such a radical party was a farewell to flesh, as in the sins thereof, prior to the deeply spiritual and repentive mood of Lent.

So my hope and prayer for the millions who will celebrate Mardi Gras is quite simple: have fun, be good, be safe and make it truly a family event.