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Mardi Gras Women's Costumes 1700's a mask added to any of these costumes would make a great Mardi Gras costume Some of our elaborate Mardi Gras style masks. The history of Mardi Gras is steeped in tradition dating back to the early Roman Empire. It is beyond the scope and purpose of this site to include a detailed history of this event, especially when so many wonderful pages already dedicated to it exist. For an excellent treatise of Mardi Gras check here: That being said, here are some great ideas for hosting your own homebrewed Mardi Gras festival party at home. A theme that works well for adults and children is Mardi Gras Krewe. Each parade has it's own theme, and the members and floats are called it's "krewe". This theme gives your guests plenty of great choices, and makes your event more authentic. Typical Mardi Gras organizations will form a "krewe." A krewe often names their parade after a particular mythological hero or Greek god. The ranking structure of a Mardi Gras Krewe is a parody of royalty: King, Queen, Dukes, Knights and Captains...or some variation on that theme. Throws are trinkets tossed to the crowd from the floats. Beads, coconuts, stuffed animals, etc.. Some of the more popular krewes, with their prevailing themes, are listed below. Any, or for the adventurous, all of the below parade themes will offer your guests plenty of opportunity for creative expression, if used as the basis for a party. The throws will make excellent favors, the costumes will reflect the parade they represent. Mardi Gras beads can be found very inexpensively at many party supply stores.
No Mardi Gras party would be complete without a King Cake. On the Christian calendar, the twelfth day after Christmas is known as "Epiphany", "Twelfth Night", or "Kings Day." It is the day the gift-bearing Magi visited the baby Jesus, and is celebrated with its own unique rituals. The New Orleans tradition, begun in the 1870s, borrows heavily from European customs. As part of the celebration of Mardi Gras, it is traditional to bake an oval cake in honor of the three kings - the King Cake. The shape of a King Cake symbolizes the unity of faiths. Each cake is decorated in the traditional Mardi Gras colors: purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power. A small baby, symbolizing the baby Jesus, is baked into each cake. Traditionally, whoever finds the baby must provide next years cake. King Cake:
Ingredients Directions Pour the warm water into a small shallow bowl and sprinkle yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar into it. Allow the yeast and sugar to rest for three minutes, then mix thoroughly. Set bowl in a warm place for 10 minutes until yeast bubbles up. Combine 31/2 cups of flour, remaining sugar, nutmeg and salt and sift into a large mixing bowl. Stir in lemon zest. Separate center of mixture to form a hole and pour in yeast mixture and milk. Add egg yolks and using a wooden spoon, combine dry ingredients into the yeast/milk mixture. When mixture is smooth, beat in 8 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to beat 2 minutes or until dough can be formed into a medium soft ball. Place ball of dough on floured surface and knead, gradually adding up to 1 cup more of flour. When dough is no longer sticky, knead 10 minutes more until shiny and elastic. Using a pastry brush, coat the inside of a large bowl evenly with one tablespoon softened butter. Place dough ball in the bowl and rotate until the entire surface is buttered. Cover bowl with a heavier kitchen towel and allow dough to rise in a warm place for about 11/2 hours or until it doubles in volume. Coat a large baking sheet with one tablespoon of butter and set aside. After the first rising, place the dough on a floured surface and punch it down with a heavy blow. Sprinkle cinnamon, then pat and shape the dough into a long 'snake' or 'cylinder'. Form a twist by folding the long cylinder in half, end to end, and pinching the ends together. Then twist the dough. Form a ring with the completed twist pinch the ends together. Place the completed ring on the buttered baking sheet, cover it with a towel and allow it to rise for 45 minutes or until it doubles in volume. After the second rising, brush the top and sides of the cake with the egg and milk wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and hide the plastic baby in the cake.
Icing (2 parts)
Divide sugar into three portions (for green, yellow and purple). Poured icing
3/4 cups confectioners sugar Combine ingredients until smooth, adding more water if it's too thick. Spoon icing over top of cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored sugars, alternating between the three colors. Serve in 2"3" pieces.
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