Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". It is the final day of Carnival and Romance. It is a celebration that is held just before the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent.
Dates
The date can vary from February 3 to March 9 in non-leap years or February 4 to March 9 in leap years. Like Lent, the date is dependent on that of Easter.
Mardi Gras falls on the following dates in the following years:
• 2007  February 20
• 2008  February 5
• 2009  February 24
• 2010  February 16
• 2011  March 8
• 2012  February 21
• 2013  February 12
• 2014  March 4
Locations
Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Venice, Bahia, and Mazatlأ،n. Many other places have important Mardi Gras celebrations as well. The carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, and in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Panama's carnivals are gaining notoriety each year, with tourists from the U.S., Latin American and European countries increasing year after year.
Brazil
In Brazil, the Carnival celebrations in Recife, Olinda, Salvador are well-known, among others, most notably Rio de Janeiro.
Mardi Gras and The Rio de Janeiro Carnival
The annual Carnival that is held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is related to Mardi Gras. The celebrations of the Carnival end on Mardi Gras. This festival is an annual event that is held 2 weeks before the traditional Christian fasting of Lent. Thousands of people from across Brazil and also from other parts of the world come to attend the festivities. Carnival comes with a lot of music, good food, color and of course the Samba dance. Mardi Gras, the last day, is an added attraction.
 

While not observed nationally throughout the United States, a number of cities and regions in the country have notable celebrations.
Mardi Gras arrived in North America with the LeMoyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiana, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
The two explorers eventually found the mouth of the Mississippi River, sailed a while upstream and named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (Mardi Gras Point) 60 miles downriver from present-day New Orleans. In 1699, the traditional Catholic celebration ensued leading to what many refer to "North America's first Mardi Gras". Following their European custom, Carnival celebrations took place in all towns and cities in the colony.
Carnival celebrations became an annual event highlighted by lavish balls and masked spectacles. Some were small, private parties with select guest lists, while others were raucous, public affairs.
Lately Mardi Gras has been taken up by several cities in the U.S. as the event brings much needed revenue to city coffers.
Louisiana
New Orleans
New Orleans Mardi Gras is particularly well-known, often called "the greatest free show on earth". The celebrations draw hundreds of thousands of tourists to the city in addition to the celebrating locals for the parties and parades. Most tourists can be found within the French Quarter, especially Bourbon Street.
Mardi Gras came to New Orleans with the earliest French settlers. New Orleans developed new traditions, including Carnival organizations called Krewes such as the Krewe du Vieux, the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, and the famous Rex parade, in addition to Mardi Gras Indians and king cake parties.
There are as many as 60 Krewes that have parades in the greater New Orleans area. Officially, the Mardi Gras season begins on the 12th day after Christmas. Most parades, balls and other festivities never occur on weeknights and weekends in the 2-week period before Mardi Gras Day. Though each parade is different, there are certain common ingredients: 1) There is a king on each float, picked from among the Krewe membership; 2) gaily colored floats, ridden by masked and costumed Krewe members, who throw various items, including necklaces (beads), metal coins called doubloons bearing the official emblem and often, that year's parade's grand marshals name, and assorted other fun items; marching bands from local high schools and universities, but often other invited guest bands.
The oldest parading krewes include those of Rex, "King of the Carnival," who has reigned since 1872, and Zulu, founded in 1909, both of whom parade for a half-million or more spectators along a six mile-long route on Shrove Tuesday morning each year. Oldest of the night parades is the Krewe of Proteus, founded in 1882, and which rolls to the light of old-fashioned flambeaux on Lundi Gras (Fat Monday), which is the Monday night before Mardi Gras. New Orleans' parades include anywhere from 14 to 30 or more floats. "Truck parades" of huge, decorated trucks often have more than 100 entries. Other parades are held by "walking clubs," consisting of maskers promendading to the blare of the city's famous jazz bands.
Particularly since the inception of the larger parade organizations (sometimes called "super krewes") such as Bacchus, Endymion and Orpheus, it has become fashionable to invite Hollywood and other celebrities to act as Grand Marshals for parades.
As many as 100,000 Mardi Gras revelers are estimated to throng Bourbon Street in New Orleans' historic French Quarter each Fat Tuesday to view often outrageous costume contests and celebrate until the stroke of midnight, which signals the end of Carnival and the beginning of the penitential season of Lent.
In addition to parades and other public observances, New Orleans is the scene of exclusive and elaborate masked, tableau balls held by most of the parading krewes and other organizations which limit their activities only to balls. Usually invitation-only affairs, many of the balls feature the presentation of the city's debutantes.
New Roads
New Roads, Louisiana hosts the state's oldest Mardi Gras celebration outside New Orleans. This historic and charming Creole town of 5,500, located 35 minutes northwest of Baton Rouge on False River, attracts as many as 75,000 people each Shrove Tuesday for a family-friendly celebration. The Community Center Carnival Club parade, founded in 1922 and Louisiana's oldest outside New Orleans, rolls at 11 a.m. The New Roads Lions Carnival parade, founded in 1941 and which is staged as a charitable fundraiser, rolls at 1:30 p.m. Each parade consists of 25-30 floats built fresh each year, eight-ten marching bands and drill units and tons of trinket "throws" including beads, cups and small toys. Unlike the exclusiveness of formal krewes, New Roads' parade particiaption is open to the public, with schools, churches, clubs, businesses and families building and riding the floats. The Mardi Gras in New Roads, Louisiana website: [1] contains history and images of this unique Mardi Gras event.
Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana is home to a large Mardi Gras celebration which includes eight parades of floats and bands during the Carnival season. An annual event since 1934, it is generally a family-oriented event lacking the perceived decadence of its New Orleans cousin. Lafayette Mardi Gras royalty, chosen from civic leaders and debutantes, includes King Gabriel and Queen Evangeline of the Southwest Louisiana Carnival Association and King Toussaint L'Overture and Queen Simone Simonet of the Lafayette Mardi Gras Festival. Hollywood celebrities have served as Grand Marshals. Lafayette is geographically the heart of Cajun Country, and as such draws Cajuns and Creoles from the surrounding area to participate in Mardi Gras festivities. Attendance at the three parades held on Shrove Tuesday itself is estimated around 255,000 by law enforcement officials. Visitors enjoy the Cajun hospitality and cuisine in addition to the parades. Lafayette's population is approximately 90% Catholic which contributes to the popularity of Mardi Gras.