When I was a child we celebrated Mardi Gras every year. My mom made costumes for us, and we prepared food to take with us to parades. Morning started with homemade beignets dusted with powdered sugar, and then she prepared crispy fried chicken to pack for lunch.
In the weeks before Mardi Gras schools would have parades through the streets--- locals and parents would line the streets to see our costumes and small floats made out of shoe boxes.
One parade began right in front of our home in an old part of New Orleans. It was so exciting to see the bands assemble and the riders climb the floats with their "throws" for the ride. At that time, mules were still used to pull the floats which were very often garbage buggies covered in finery.
Later in the day we would migrate to downtown New Orleans to see Zulu (the black parade) and then Rex, the king of it all. Thousands of people from all over the world wandered the streets to costume and watch the parades. When I was young the highlight was to meet up with various cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents to share the day.
There was always nudity and naughty behavior, but usually it was confined to the French Quarter. Most of our time was spent in areas where families set up tables and visited.
Carnival is still very popular and a lot more glitzy and professional now. It grows every year, but because I live a 2 hour drive away, have no secure place to park our car, or convenient rest room available ( and truthfully, I am not as spry I used to be), I no longer participate.
But I love remembering the times when we went to the Mardi Gras!
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