BONS TEMPS ROULER

Don’t look now, but here come the flashy beads, sequined masks, and way-too-boozy hurricanes.

Yep, it’s officially Mardi Gras season. While the holiday is traditionally observed on the Tuesday following Ash Wednesday (this year it falls on March 1), New Orleans, in all its glorious “extra-ness,” celebrates the occasion with a week-long spectacle of parades, parties, and morning-after po-boys.

But what exactly is Mardi Gras and how did it become a notoriously debaucherous celebration