1. The biggest party of the year

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last day of Carnival, which begins on January 6th. Mardi Gras marks the last celebration before Ash Wednesday and Lent begin. Typically, people use this celebration as a day of indulgence before lent. It’s a perfect day to treat yourself to Scamps Toffee!

 2. A 773 year old event

Carnival celebrations originated in Nice, France. Records of this celebration date back to 1294!

Carnival in Nice, France

Why only celebrate for a day? Some Mardi-Gras goers start celebrating the final hours of Carnival on Monday. They call this day Lundi Gras. In French, this means Fat Monday.

4. A historic tradition

Mardi Gras parades are the highlight of the festivities. How long have these parades been around? The first iconic parade took place in New Orleans (NOLA) in 1857.

Mardi Gras parade 1858

5. Who organizes the party?

Krewes organize the NOLA parade each year! Usually Krewes are named after Greek Gods. The Mistik Krewe of Comus, the Greek god of Revelry (partying) popularized NOLA as THE Mardi Gras destination when they introduced floats to the parade!

6. A day of traditions

The Krewe of Rex started many of the popular Mardi Gras traditions like the colors, and handing out coins to parade-goers which Mardi Gras wouldn’t be nearly as exciting without.

7. Purple, green, and yellow…oh my!

Mardi Gras official colors are purple, green and yellow! Purple symbolizes justice, golds symbolizes power, and green represents faith. The colors came about when the Krewe Rex chose the theme “Symbol of Colors” for their 1892 parade!

8. There’s a baby in the cake!?!?

Indulge in some Kings cake and you might just become the king/queen of Mardi Gras. If you get the lucky king’s cake piece with a baby inside, you’re said to have good luck for the rest of the year!

9. So many "Kings" of Mardi Gras!

Around 50,000 king cakes are sold every year for Mardi Gras. That means that there are 50,000 lucky kings and queens!

10. “THROW ME SOMETHING, MISTER!”
Want a Mardi Gras souvenir? Just yell out the secret phrase: “THROW ME SOMETHING MISTER” and the Krewes will throw you beads. If you ever see Scamps at Mardi Gras, shout “Throw me something, Scamps” and maybe he’ll throw YOU some toffee! 😜

Happy Mardi Gras, Scamps Friends! Enjoy your favorite Scamps treat and don’t forget to “laissez les bons temps rouler”.