The celebration of Mardi Gras involves many traditions that have evolved over the years. Did you ever wonder the significance behind each of these traditions? Let’s explore a few of the Mardi Gras traditions.

  • Mardi Gras Colors – The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are green, gold and purple. Green represents faith, gold symbolizes power and purple represents justice.

  • Tossing tokens (strings of beads, coins, medallions) to onlookers at the Mardi Gras Parade is a custom that started when pagan peasants tossed grains at their fields during the springtime as a way of showing gratitude to the gods for allowing them to survive the harsh winter.

  • King Cakes are a traditional food at Mardi Gras parties which honors the three kings and is represented by an oval cake which is decorated in the traditional colors of green, purple and gold. A small plastic baby, representing the baby Jesus, is baked inside of the cake. Whoever finds the baby in their piece of Mardi Gras cake will be rewarded with good luck during the coming year.