Top Five Mardi Gras Festivals

Venice-Carnival

The history of Mardi Gras parades goes back to pre-christian times, when the Romans used to celebrate Lupercalia, a pagan ritual in which circus demonstrations represented the main ingredient (it might as well be the starting point of the notorious catch-phrase ‘bread and circuses”). When Christianity started to spread, it encompassed some of these traditions in a manifestation that was meant to mark the beginning of the 40-day Lent preceding Easter.

Across the centuries, the Mardi Gras (‘Fat Tuesday’) has grown to represent the carnival period, a time for joy and decadence, when people all around the world gather on the streets, put on their masks and unleash their senses. …