It is the month of March in the year 2025 and we have been graced with the opportunity to celebrate not 1 but 2 Holidays here in America... unfortunately both of them bad for your liver.
Now that we have all drank at least a bottle of water as a peace offering to our bodies, let's get into the Holidays I mentioned.
Both of these Holidays are personal for me, one because I live in Louisiana and two my great grandparents immigrated from Ireland.
Mardi Gras
"Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
In English means "Let the Good Times Roll"! and in the Southern States we take that as a declaration.
I know the first thought that comes to people's mind when they hear Mardi Gras is the things people will do for some beads...they will do more for some beads than anyone would do for a Klondike bar.
Mardi Gras literally just means Fat Tuesday, and I celebrate that every year by being Fat on a Tuesday. I'm kidding.... kinda.
It is celebrated the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and Lent Begins, for our Catholic Friends. The traditions is to go all out before they begin their 40 days of fasting, praying and enduring like Jesus did.
It was brought to New Orleans in 1699 when some French explorers landed and held a small celebration (some people argue Montgomery Alabama). These guys did not anticipate what it would become today. Now you can expect to celebrate it for at least a week before actual Fat Tuesday or if you count the days king cake becomes available again, which is usually in January!
If you plan on travelling to New Orleans for this epic Carnival please be prepared to have your hotels booked now and to pay a lot more than normal. It remains on people's bucket list, and you should prepare like the people who watch the ball drop in NYC each year or the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
We celebrate with parades, music, drinks, and FOOD! I know you have heard it before from me, but God gave us a choice in Louisiana good food or good weather and since we end up on the Hurricane trajectory path every year you can see the choice that was made.
Now Gumbo is a big deal around here and people will argue with everyone on the correct way to make it, even asking who made it before they'll even touch it, me I'm biased to my husbands and uncles.
We are also obsessed with these little creatures that live in the ground that used to be a poor person's meal and now we have decided it is worth every penny...sometimes even 800 pennies a pound. You take them and a big boiling pot, add potatoes, corn, mushrooms, onions and LOTS of seasoning, also you will end up in an argument about sucking the heads..... and it won't just be the same argument you and your husband have had. (You know the argument....who's going to clean up the mess when everyone's done eating?).
Of course, you can't eat a big meal and be so full you're going to be sick, until someone says "anybody wany anything sweet?"
Well duh!
Let's get that king cake out baby! OH I should tell you to pick your piece wisely speaking of babies, because inside this delicious ring of diabetes there is a small plastic baby figurine. If you are the lucky one to cut the piece with it in there you just WON!!!
YOUR PRIZE: You get to buy the next King Cake!
A good way to work off all the calories you just ate? Grab your costumes and get ready for the Chicken Run. You can join hundreds of other people who line up and wait for the starting shot of running around like a chicken with his head cut off....(you better have laughed at that), the people not only run around but they take the time to visit the people they come across while looking for these poultry escapees.
The goal: CATCH THAT CHICKEN!!!
We are going to close out this Holiday like the cops close down Bourbon Street on Midnight. (It's not actually closed) and get cleaned up for the next round of bad decisions and drinking we call St. Patrick's Day.
ST. PATRICKS DAY
A celebration of St. Patrick who is the patron saint of Ireland's death on March 17th and it remains this same date year after year. We choose to honor that man's legacy with green beer, shamrocks, more parades, and everything GREEN!
Now the shamrock actually has meaning to this day as he used it to explain his teachings of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit using that 3 leafed plant. When America saw the influx of Irish Immigration to avoid starvation, the wild celebrations in the streets that Irish Americans held celebrating this patron caused some uproar with people calling them not so nice names, but it also created a symbol for these Irish Americans to use their influence in voting matters.
So, the St. Patrick's Day Parades were born. The first actually being held in St. Augustine Florida by the Spanish Colony. Today over 100 cities celebrate by hosting parades with New York City, Boston and Chicago being home to some of the largest in the country with over 150,000 participants.
Side Note: As I grew up in Massachusetts, South Boston or Southie as we call it is influenced heavily by the Irish. I marched in that 4-hour long parade every year with my High School Marching Band, and we had audience numbers close to a million.
You can head to Chicago and watch them dye the river green in celebration, or venture to NYC where the biggest parade of the country is held.
Now my favorite part about St. Patty's Day is the Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner. Although it isn't actually an Irish dish straight from Ireland, we can thank our ancestors who began making this a treasured dinner. Pork was far less expensive in Ireland, so Irish Bacon was a favorite to them, when they came to America, they realized Corned Beef seemed to be similar, and being able to put meat and vegetables in the same pot to create one big meal was a cost effective and if I may say delicious form of celebration. Do you put Mustard on it like we do?
The best part about both of these Holidays? You don't have to be Irish or Catholic to celebrate. You can be like the rest of America who looks for reasons to justify getting dressed up and drinking more than we should.
Oh you'll also be able to take the kids to most of these celebrations (NOT BOURBON STREET, your kids will see more than you know how to explain).
Once you decide to take a celebration vacation, I will be glad to get everything taken care of for you, including mini-Tylenols that come in your tote bags you get for booking with me.
If you're down in Louisiana I might even throw you something mister.
As always..
Take the Trip!
Samantha Cooley
Owner- Worth The Miles Travel
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