There is no celebration in the world, which is as much misconstrued as the New Orleans Mardi Gras. Laboring under a misconception, the vast majority of people outside of New Orleans believe that the New Orleans Mardi Gras is a celebration spreading over a period of a few days just before Ash Wednesday. In reality the New Orleans carnival is similar to the Fasching of Germany that begins on the twelfth night after Christmas and continues until Shrove Tuesday. The expression Mardi Gras is from the French, meaning "Fat Tuesday".
The present media image of Mardi Gras has much more to do with lethargy on the part of the reporters covering our celebration than the actual acts, which are fewer and farther between than has been described. Though there are those who seem to regard Mardi Gras, as little more than a larger-scale frat party, the reality is that there are several different ways to celebrate the Carnival, all taking place at the same time. You can have Mardi Gras in the form that best suits your temperament and particular taste from going to the parades to finding the various carnival parties with open invitations. You can go into the Quarter to catch the wildness there or walk through to sample everything that takes place --from the wildness of those flashing body parts for beads to seeing all the many and varied forms of costume to catching the drag-queen costume contests in the gay sections of the Quarter, to catching the marchers parading through the lower French Quarter streets to finding carnival on Basin Street and the processions of the Indians.
Bourbon Street is a focus of party activity because of the number of music and strip clubs and bars to be found on the street, and their central proximity to the other clubs, pubs, and eateries to be found in the Quarter.
