<P> In Sweden the celebration is called Fettisdagen, when you eat fastlagsbulle, more commonly called Semla . The name comes from the words "fett" (fat) and "tisdag" (Tuesday). Originally, this was the only day one should eat fastlagsbullar . </P> <P> While not observed nationally throughout the United States, a number of traditionally ethnic French cities and regions in the country have notable celebrations . Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean - Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiane, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and part of eastern Texas . </P> <P> The expedition, led by Iberville, entered the mouth of the Mississippi River on the evening of March 2, 1699 (new style), Lundi Gras . They did not yet know it was the river explored and claimed for France by René - Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1683 . The party proceeded upstream to a place on the east bank about 60 miles downriver from where New Orleans is today, and made camp . This was on March 3, 1699, Mardi Gras, so in honour of this holiday, Iberville named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (French: "Mardi Gras Point") and called the nearby tributary Bayou Mardi Gras . Bienville went on to found the settlement of Mobile, Alabama in 1702 as the first capital of French Louisiana . In 1703 French settlers in Mobile established the first organised Mardi Gras celebration tradition in what was to become the United States . The first informal mystic society, or krewe, was formed in Mobile in 1711, the Boeuf Gras Society . By 1720, Biloxi had been made capital of Louisiana . The French Mardi Gras customs had accompanied the colonists who settled there . </P> <P> In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans, founded in 1718 . The first Mardi Gras parade held in New Orleans is recorded to have taken place in 1837 . The tradition in New Orleans expanded to the point that it became synonymous with the city in popular perception, and embraced by residents of New Orleans beyond those of French or Catholic heritage . Mardi Gras celebrations are part of the basis of the slogan, Laissez les bons temps rouler, (Let the good times roll). On Mardi Gras Day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the last parades of the season wrap up and the celebrations come to a close with the Meeting of the Courts (a.k.a. locally as the Rex Ball). Other cities along the Gulf Coast with early French colonial heritage, from Pensacola, Florida; Galveston, Texas; to Lake Charles and Lafayette, Louisiana; and north to Natchez, Mississippi, have active Mardi Gras celebrations . </P>

When does mardi gras start and end 2018