China is the life of the Mardi Gras party

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Europe

One of the biggest parties of the year is still days away, but revelers in New Orleans are already immersed in the annual celebration that would not be the same without China.

Partygoers are known to wear and toss colorful beads – known as “throws” in New Orleans – from the streets and balconies of the French Quarter’s famed Bourbon Street, and other areas of the city.

But the millions of beads that are flung from the floats to revelers in the US are actually made in China.

A reveler catches a pair of beads as members of the Krewe of Thoth parade down St. Charles Avenue the weekend before Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 6, 2011. / Reuters

One such factory in Fuzhou, located in China’s southeastern Fujian Province, was featured in "Mardi Gras: Made in China" – a 2005 documentary that explored the life cycle of beads made in China and used exclusively in New Orleans.

The greatest free show on earth

Revelers throw beads from a French Quarter balcony on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, March 4, 2014. / Reuters‍

Mardi Gras is celebrated on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent, a period of reflection and abstinence on the Catholic calendar.

By tradition, Mardi Gras, which is French for “Fat Tuesday,” is a day that calls for excessive partying in preparation for the somber season of sacrifice to follow.

The Carnival season that leads up to Mardi Gras actually begins in January, with a heavy schedule of parades and balls slated during the two weeks prior to Fat Tuesday.

Beads by the dozen

Families and friends gather by the thousands from around the world to take part in the spectacular parades, which are staged by organizations known as “krewes.” The processions often feature celebrities among the costumed riders on dozens of elaborate floats that celebrate Greek mythology and are interspersed with marching bands, dancers and flambeaux carriers – men carrying flaming torches.

A Mardi Gras parade rider smiles at a little girl and asks her if she really wants a shoe moments before she hands her one during the Muses parade in New Orleans, Louisiana February 16, 2012. / Reuters

A highlight of the festivities are the beads float riders in every parade toss to crowds, yelling the traditional Mardi Gras phrase, “Throw me something, mister!”

More than 50 tons of beads are tossed every year, Reuters reported, citing New Orleans city officials. Those costs are not small. A recent study of the economics of Mardi Gras by Tulane University economics professor Toni Weiss, estimated that krewes spend more than 20 million US dollars annually to put on their parades, with most of the money going towards beads.

Fat Tuesday hangover

The colorful signature of New Orleans’ annual Mardi Gras celebration has left the city known as “The Big Easy” with a big mess.

The Krewe of Muses celebrates the Saints with the "Forever XLIV" float in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 16, 2012. / Reuters

New Orleans city officials announced in January that Mardi Gras beads were among the 7.2 million pounds of trash pulled from clogged drains along a downtown parade route, the Times-Picayune newspaper reported.

“Once you hear a number like that, there’s no going back,” Dani Galloway, interim director of the city’s Department of Public Works, said during a news conference. “So we’ve got to do better.”

The removal was part of a four-month project in response to heavy flooding in the city in August, the newspaper reported. The effectiveness of the city’s drainage systems came under fire after an August storm dumped up to 15 centimeters of rain, causing flooding.

(with inputs from wires)