Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday, is the final day of Carnival, a festival that involves public celebrations such as parades and masquerade balls. Carnival began on Jan. 6 and Mardi Gras is February this year.

Also known as Kings' Day or Twelfth Night, Jan. 6 celebrates the arrival of the three kings at Jesus' birthplace. This is traditionally the end of the Christmas season and the start of Carnival. This festival of fun finds its roots in various pagan celebrations of spring, dating back 5,000 years. Read more about the religious vestiges of Mardi Gras in religious magazines like Catholic Digest, Catholic Answer and Biblical Archaelogy Review.

It was Pope Gregory XIII who made Mardi Gras a Christian holiday in 1582, when he put it on his Gregorian calendar on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The idea was for all the debauchery to be finished when it came time to fast and pray.

The LeMoyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville brought the first Mardi Gras to North America in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiana.

It wasn't until after the Civil War that the second Carnival krewe made its debut in 1870. The new group named themselves the Twelfth Night Revelers and put on a parade on January 6. Although they no longer parade, the Revelers' ball marks the official start of the season.

Much of the first part of Carnival festivities is invitation-only coronation balls and supper dances hosted by private clubs known as krewes, which are organizations or societies that put on parades and balls during Mardi Gras. Many Americans take vacations to New Orleans during the Carnival festival. For more on New Orleans culture and a guide to the activities read magazines Lousiana Homes & Gardens and Lousiana Literature.

The oldest parading African-American krewe is the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, which first took to the streets in 1909. Over the years, Zulu has become a perennial favorite and the krewe's gilded coconuts are one of the season's most prized throws. For more on the krewes of New Orleans and parades and balls they put on, read travel magazines Budget Travel, Conde Nast Traveler and Travel+Leisure.

The most famous part of the Mardi Gras celebrations are the more than 70 public parades, which come to life a couple of weeks before Mardi Gras. People dress in masquerade costumes, beads, and the traditional Mardi Gras colors purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.