New OrleansMardi Gras is celebrated as a holiday in many places with carnivals, masquerade balls, and parades of costumed merrymakers for hundreds of years in Europe, a fierce debate still rages in the United States however as to which city can witness the first Mardi Gras party.
Alabama may have a strong claim to be the first one, but there is no question as to which city will organise the biggest festival.
New Orleans will celebrate its 150 Mardi Gras six months after hurricane, Katrina ravaged the city. The raucous partygoers and colourful floats will parade throughout the streets, which had been recently darkened by looting and downed power lines.
The first parade commenced on the night of 26 February. The celebrations however will be limited to eight days than the usual twelve days, even with limited parade routes and somewhat less extravagant costumes and floats the city is promising a spectacular show.
"We've been through a lot but this is our history. It's our heritage," a spokesman for the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, Larry Lowel, said. He also added that the celebrations would indicate a positive progress and the resilience of the people affected by Katrina.
Only 13 Mardi Gras festivals have been cancelled since the first secret society, krewe created an organised parade through the French Quarter in 1857 according to Arthur Hardy, a Mardi Gras historian who publishes Carnival guides.
The parades were also cancelled during wartimes, the Civil War, World Wars and the Korean conflict and due to a police strike in 1979.
What makes the celebrations in New Orleans so unique is the dedication of the private organisations or krewes that stage the parades, Hardy said.
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