celebrated in Paris since the Middle Ages, where it was a major holiday. Iberville sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, from where he launched an expedition up the Mississippi River. On March 3 of 1699, Iberville had set up a camp on the west bank of the river about 60 miles south of where New Orleans is today. This was the day Mardi Gras was being celebrated in France. In honor of this important day, Iberville named the site Point du Mardi Gras. On Mardi Gras of 1857, the Mystick Krewe of Comus held its first parade. Comus is the oldest continuously active Mardi Gras organization and is considered the first Carnival krewe in the modern sense. Masks & Music There are French royals, feather-covered showgirls, Energizer bunnies, painted clowns, masked lions and countless others in the streets of New Orleans at Mardi Gras. By dawn on that most famous Tuesday, people have claimed the
narrow streets of the French Quarter of New Orleans. More people joined and followed them until they caught the attention of the ladies of the town, who leaned over their balconies and threw chocolates and kisses to them. From that time on, masked walking parades became fashionable in New Orleans in the springtime. The festivals became more organized in 1857 when a group of people calling themselves "The Mystick Krewe of Comus" made their way through the streets on floats pulled by horses. One float was carrying the king of the Crewe on a throne and another carried a devil sitting among flames made from paper and representing hell. Later, a person of true royal blood found his way into the festival. Alexis Alexandrovich Romanov, the brother of the heir to the Russian throne, went to New Orleans, where the Mardi Gras was being planned. When the planners discovered that a royal person was
annaabi.ee 
