Do You Know What The Mardi Gras Colors Mean?

We all know the colors for Mardi Gras have always been purple, green, and gold but have you ever asked yourself why?

The official colors were unveiled in 1872 at the first parade of Rex who was the king of Mardi Gras. Newspapers on Fat Tuesday read that the king of carnival wanted all the balconies draped in purple, gold, and green.

According to historian, Errol Flynn Laborde, the king must have a kingdom and the kingdom must have a flag. The three colors were chosen because America, Great Britain, and France all have three colors on their flag, so Mardi Gras should too.

Purple has long been associated with royalty, gold works perfectly when dealing with a king, and green, well we may never know the true meaning. There is an urban legend in New Orleans that says these colors were responsible for the school colors for Louisiana State University and Tulane University.

The story goes something like this: LSU was deciding on their colors and the stores in New Orleans were stocked up with purple, green, and gold for Mardi Gras. Supposedly, they bought all the purple and gold items, (you know it) leaving Tulane with only the green items.

I personally find these three colors to be the most common in my wardrobe. I wonder why?