How to Get a Chicken Out of a Tree - Mardi Gras 2011

Elton Richard first formally organized the Church Point Courir de Mardi Gras in 1961. Until that point individual groups of men would ride horse back through the country on Mardi Gras Day begging for ingredients,or money with which to buy ingredients, for a communal gumbo. The first organized courir included approximately 400 horsemen. Mardi Gras, the French term for Fat Tuesday, is held on the eve of the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday. The first Acadians brought "Le Courir de Mardi Gras" or the "Running of the Mardi Gras" to French Louisiana when they immigrated to the area in the 1750's. The custom of European peasants merrymaking before a period of fasting and penitence was handed to them from medieval times and was practiced by the Romans before then.

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Travel & Events

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• mardi gras
• church point
• louisiana
• cajun
• acadiana
• chicken run
• chicken chase
• courir de mardi gras
• parade
• fat tuesday