Getting ready for Mardi Gras in New Orleans

New Orleans is one of the most misunderstood cities in America. Mention the name to someone who's never been there, and her first quip will be about women taking off their tops and drunks in the street. Yet funny enough, no one seems to "go there" about places like Piccadilly Circus in London or Times Square in New York, two lively cesspools of human debauchery.

NOLA is like the mirror you picked up when you were in your best mood. The reflection is both flattering and untrue. There is no place like it because once you've moved outside the city limits, say driven to Barataria Bay for a cruise, passing the shrimp boats and the humble gas stations along the way, you are reminded that the Big Easy really is an enigma.

So come for that this Mardi Gras season. If you are sick of the election, the transition, the utter orangeness of it all, NOLA will satisfy your entire color palette.

Here's the scoop.

The official Parade Schedulehas been published. Highlights include the Femme Fatale Parade at 11 a.m. Feb. 19 Uptown; the Muses Parade Uptown on Feb. 23; Tucks Parade Uptown at noon on the 25th; and the Rex Parade on Mardi Gras Day, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. Uptown. The parades kick off Feb. 11 with the Krewe of Bilge in Slidell at noon.

Here's some Mardi Gras Lingo you'll need to know, thanks to the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau:

Ash Wednesday: The first day of Lent, it's the day after Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). Catholics typically attend church, and a priest blesses them by drawing a cross of ashes on the forehead, a symbol of penitence and the frailty of life.

Carnival: From Latin, it literally means "farewell to meat." Metaphorically, it's a temporary adieu to the pleasures of the flesh, as the multitudes gather to overindulge before Lent. The carnival season begins on Twelfth Night (January 6) and culminates on Mardi Gras day, Fat Tuesday.

Colors of Mardi Gras: Because the first Rex parade honored a Russian prince, the New Orleans Mardi Gras adopted the colors of the royal house of Romanov: purple, green and gold for justice, faith and power, respectively.

Doubloons: These commemorative coins struck for individual krewes are designed with the krewe crest or emblem on one side and the parade and/or ball theme on the other. Some also imprint mottoes; for Rex, it's Pro bono publico, "For the common good." The Krewe of Rex tossed the first parade doubloons in 1960. Now usually made of aluminum, some have been minted of bronze, sterling and real gold, given as call-out favors during balls. Rex alone has minted over eighteen million doubloons since 1960 and now tosses out about 600,000 on Mardi Gras day.

Favor: Krewe souvenirs given to guests attending the ball. From small costume jewelry pins to special doubloons, favors can be anything a krewe member wants to give his partner. On occasion, favors have even been extravagant items of real jewelry.

Flag: Notice the purple, green and gold flags flying outside homes around the city? Only former kings and queens of carnival have the right to fly the ones with crowns. The Crescent City is full of past, present and future royalty.

Flambeaux (plural, flam-boe): Multipronged long metal torches fueled by naphtha or kerosene and secured by straps slung about the waist. Before portable generators and battery-operated lights, they were the only way to illuminate the floats of night parades. Traditionally carried by white-robed African Americans, they began as a symbol of Haiti's independence, won in 1791 after slaves held a torchlight parade led by their priests. King Cake: A party staple from January 6 through Mardi Gras day, the cake is named for the three kings who visited the Christ Child and whose feast (the Epiphany) is celebrated on January 6, the Twelfth Night after Christmas. Traditionally, the cake is a brioche pastry baked in a circle, suggesting a crown (although for convenience, large ones are oval). They are sprinkled with gem-like sugar crystals in the official Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold. A plastic baby (symbol of the Christ Child), or in some cases a bean, is baked inside. By custom, the one who finds it throws the next king cake party. Lately, the brioche recipe has been supplemented by a coffee-cake ring alternative. French settlers brought the gâteau des rois to Louisiana in the 18th century. Their original round, flaky pastry pie filled with almond crème and topped by a paper crown can be found in French pastry shops around the city.

Krewe: A variation of the word "crew," carnival organizations, all private and non-profit, are known as krewes. The word was invented with a little creative spelling in 1857 by the first New Orleans carnival organization. The founders of the Mistick Krewe of Comus, named their group for a reference to "Comus with his crew" from John Milton's poem, "A Mask Presented at Ludlow-Castle."