Mardi Gras Clip Art
Mardi Gras is a huge cultural festival celebrated in many places around the world. It is associated with wild parties, vibrant colors, delicious food, and an overall spirit of fun right before the more solemn season of Lent begins for Christians.
Origin & History of Mardi Gras
While Mardi Gras has definitive Christian roots tied to Lent and Easter traditions, much of the current festivities also have influences from ancient Roman pagan spring rites.
The tradition originated way back during late 5th and early 6th centuries. As Chrisitanity spread through Rome, new converts still wanted to celebrate traditional spring festivals. So many pagan customs like wearing masks, parades and celebrations were incorporated into the start of Lent. This allowed people to enjoy festivities they looked forward to before entering into 40 days of repentance and fasting for Easter.
In later centuries, elaborate masquerade balls and lavish feasts really defined Mardi Gras celebrations leading up the day before Ash Wednesday. French monarchs in the late 1600s helped organize and spread the celebration traditions.
When the French settled parts of North America like New Orleans, Mobile and Galveston; many iconic parts of Mardi Gras came with them and developed into a world famous annual festival.
Traditions of Mardi Gras
Today, iconic Mardi Gras traditions include:
- Elaborate Parades: Floats, marching bands, dancers all toss out beads, coins and trinkets to large cheering crowds. Parade Krewe members spend all year planning ornate floats and exclusive events.
- Masquerade Balls: Social events held by Mardi Gras Krewes and organizations. Attendees dress in costume with elaborate masks.
- King Cake: Colorful cakes decorated in Mardi Gras purple, gold and green. Some cakes have plastic baby figurine baked inside. Finding the baby is good luck!
- Beads & Costumes: Partiers wear all sorts of crazy unique costumes covered in purple, gold, green Mardi Gras beads. Flamboyant is welcomed!
Symbols & Imagery of Mardi Gras
You will always find these iconic symbols proudly displayed for Mardi Gras festivities:
Colors
- Purple = Justice
- Green = Hope for spring and renewal
- Gold = Happiness and the golden light of the “Fat Tuesday” sun
Symbols
- Jester & Fool masks = Mocking rules, humor and chaos
- Fleur de Lis = French influence on the festival
- Crowns = Royalty which stems from customs of choosing Mardi Gras Kings & Queens
Locations for Mardi Gras Celebrations
Some popular places known for grand Mardi Gras festivities include:
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA: Arguably the Mardi Gras capital of North America with massive parades and celebrations throughout the whole Carnival season. Started in 1699.
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Intense samba school parades with drummers/dancers in costumed wings compete to create an amazing display. Considered the world’s biggest carnival festival.
- Venice, Italy: Masked costume balls in 18th century Baroque settings. Gondola race down the Grand Canal kicks off Venice Carnival season.
Mardi Gras Clip Art
Clip art refers to simple line drawing illustrations used to represent a topic or concept. For Mardi Gras, popular colorful vector clipart images include:
Mardi Gras Celebration Clip Art
- Jesters throwing beads and doubloons from floats
- Revelers holding hurricane cocktail glasses
- Crowds wearing crazy creative costumes
- Parade marching bands leading dance teams
Mardi Gras Colors & Symbols Clip Art
Look for gold, purple and green:
- Beads, feathers, fleur de lis patterns
- Masks with jewels and feathers
- Ornate crowns fit for royalty
- Figurines of gold jesters and court fools
Mardi Gras Food Clip Art
You can’t celebrate Mardi Gras without fixings like:
- Multi-colored king cake drawings
- Crawfish / shrimp / oyster cartoons
- Jambalaya pots with rice and chicken pieces
- Images of Mardis Gras themed desserts and cocktails
Using Mardi Gras Clip Art
There are many fun and creative ways you can use free Mardi Gras clip art such as:
- DIY Arts & Crafts Projects
- Party Invitations
- Posters for Mardi Gras Themed Events
- Social Media Posts
- School Assignments / Presentations
- Blogs and Websites related to the festival
The instantly recognizable iconic symbols and lively spirit of Mardi Gras makes great featured clipart for all sorts of media designs and digital creations.
In this page clipartix present 56 mardi gras clipart images free for designing activities. Lets download Mardi Gras Clip Art that you want to use for works or personal uses.
