NEW ORLEANS CARNIVAL

New Orleans is in the southern state of Louisiana, USA, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It’s recovering from the terrible effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but it’s still a colourful cosmopolitan city. During carnival time, when its population doubles in size, it’s even more colourful and noisier! New Orleans carnival is the largest carnival in North America, with crowds of up to a million people. It’s smaller and less well known than the Rio carnival, but it lasts much longer.

Now it’s the carnival time in New Orleans. It’s the second day of the carnival and we have 4 days more! The streets are very lively with fantastic balls and exciting parties, but the people are waiting especially for the main parades with different costumes and music. There are more than sixty huge parades throughout the city. People are joining the parades and they are wearing masks and throwing strings of beads, plastic cups, coins and toys to the crowd. The bands are playing New Orleans jazz and other kinds of music, and the streets are full of people who are dancing in colours: purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. And when you get hungry, there are lots of stalls and restaurants. They are selling delicious cakes and exotic food. A lot of people are waiting in lines to get such tasty food. The tourists from all over the world are taking photos and trying to watch the parades. The children are preparing special kites for the carnival and some of them are trying to fly them. The highest kite will be the winner!

The first recorded carnival in New Orleans was a very small event in 1703. Today the New Orleans celebration is the best street party in the USA and it’s less expensive than Rio!