Mardi Gras, like Christmas, is a whole season - not just one day. Fat Tuesday is the biggest day of celebration, and the date it falls on moves around. We can find that Fat Tuesday can be any Tuesday between Feb. 3 and March 9. Carnival celebration starts on Jan. 6, the Twelfth Night (feast of Epiphany), and picks up speed through midnight on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras Is a Legal Holiday. It really is! Despite the preponderance of what might “seem” like illegal activity, Mardi Gras is a legal holiday in Louisiana, and has been since 1875, when Governor Warmoth signed the “Mardi Gras Act.”