MARDI GRAS is a french expression, meaning “Fat Tuesday”. Mardi Gras celebrations take place every year in New Orleans, Louisiana, where huge crowds fill the streets to eat, drink, dance and join in with the party. It is celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of lent.
The build-up begins early, and many local groups and community associations hold parades with some of the massive floats carrying up to 250 people. These people on the floats wear ornate and brightly coloured costumes and tall headdresses, topped with feathers, and also beautiful masks covering their faces. It is traditional for people riding on the floats to throw cups and necklaces to the crowd who are watching the parade.
Another Mardi Gras tradition is to eat King Cake, a kind of sweet bread which is served at Mardi Gras balls and parties. Hidden inside the cake is a small plastic baby, which is said by some to represent the baby Jesus. The person who gets the piece of cake with the baby inside becomes King or Queen and has to promise to host the next party and buy/prepare the cake for the next celebration!
Some of these facts about this celebration were learned by the students who attended our Social Club where they could also practice their English by sharing their knowledge about this holiday and using new words introduced during the meeting. After that, they had a trivia contest with questions about Mardi Gras, with three teams fighting for the title. With some of them excited for the million dollars prize offered by New Deal (LOL).
To finish they enjoyed Word Puzzle with words related to Mardi Gras, trying to be the first team to find them all. This Social Club had different interactive and amusing activities which you could practice your english skills while having fun and a singular time from each safe place that our houses represent. Finally, we would like to finish thanking to our students who attended that night for having such a wonderful and new virtual experience.
We hope to see you soon in our next Social Club.
