The beginning of Mardi Gras falls on January 6 annually and is marked by Twelfth Night or the final day of Christmas. For most people, that simply is ‘January 6’ or ‘Thursday’ in 2022, but for New Orleanians; It marks the beginning of the new Carnival season. Thus, Mardi Gras is around the corner! This year, New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell officially opened this fun and hectic season, which at Kern Studios is also the busiest time of year. For Mardi Gras 2022 alone, we’ve prepared over 450 floats…
Many people think that Mardi Gras consists of one big parade on a single day, but here in New Orleans that could not be further from correct! Mardi Gras itself – French for ‘Fat Tuesday’- is the very last day of the whole Carnival season. Fat Tuesday 2022 falls on March 1st.
The whole tradition of Carnival was started by the Catholic Church, which allowed people to have one last very merry good time before the Season of Lent started on Ash Wednesday. It was decided that January 6 –or ‘King’s Day’ marked the first day of Carnival, which means ‘farewell to flesh’. As such, the Church also established the fluctuating date for Mardi Gras: it is always 47 days before Easter.
During the Carnival Season, there are 32 parades of various shapes and sizes in Orleans Parish. Kern Studios designs and builds 20 of them, making up for 70% of all the floats on parade in Orleans parish. Needless to say, the ‘Kern’ parades are mainly the larger ones, including those from Zulu, Muses, Tucks, Femme Fatale, and the parades of the so-called ‘Super Krewes’ Endymion, Bacchus, and Orpheus.