INVERSE VANDALISM

Tonight is Twelfth Night and it marks the beginning of Carnival Season! Yes, a whole season dedicated to debauchery and mayhem! I'm right in the thick of it and can't decide what to do. You gotta hate that. Last year, Mardi Gras was slightly subdued with over half the population displaced and all, but I think we're ready now. The beads will start flying tonight and continue throughout the month of February and in to March when St. Patricks Day turns the city into a slimy green puke bowl.

Here's a brief history of Mardi Gras:

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the final day of Carnival, which begins on the Feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6. Also known as Kings' Day or Twelfth Night, Jan. 6 celebrates the arrival of the three kings at Jesus' birthplace, thus ending the Christmas season. And in New Orleans, simultaneously starting Carnival. This festival of fun finds its roots in various pagan celebrations of spring, dating back 5,000 years.

But it was Pope Gregory XIII who made it a Christian holiday when, in 1582, he put it on his Gregorian calendar (the 12-month one we still use today). He placed Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. That way, all the debauchery would be finished when it came time to fast and pray.

Much of the first part of the Carnival season is invitation-only coronation balls and supper dances hosted by private clubs known as krewes. The public portion comes to life a couple of weeks before Mardi Gras when the krewes hit the streets, staging more than 70 parades in metropolitan New Orleans.

Mardi Gras arrived in North America with the LeMoyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiana.