It’s February in the Big Easy and with it comes the time of year when New Orleans residents and visitors from near and far participate in one of the largest and most well known parties in the world. The party I’m talking about is technically called Carnival and is celebrated in various forms throughout Europe and the Americas. Most Americans, however, know it as Mardi Gras, French words for “Fat Tuesday” that actually represent a several week-long festival with Catholic and ancient pagan roots featuring parades, trinkets, music, costumes, the eating of King Cakes and almost every other kind of merriment imaginable.

Since the sixteenth century, Carnival festivity has begun on January sixth, the day when many Christian denominations commemorate the arrival of three kings to Bethlehem, and has ended on the Tuesday before the beginning of Lent, a forty day season of prayer and reflection observed by many Christians that ends on Easter. But while Mardi Gras has been a part of New Orleans for as long as New Orleans has been in existence, the future of this beloved tradition was called into question after Hurricane Katrina. Not only had Katrina decreased the population of the city and left the local government in shambles, it also damaged many of the traditional parade routes and devastated the local economy and tourist industry that historically produced the financial resources to make Mardi Gras happen.

It is true that the current financial crisis has not exactly helped Mardi Gras. In fact, several Carnival “krewes” have even had to cancel their parades due to the economic downturn. Recently though, the New Orleans Times Picayune reported that the sale of beads, medallions and other trinkets typically thrown from parade floats has not faltered. In another article, a staff writer for the Times Picayune focused on an uplifting story about the “Krewe of Rex,” one of the oldest and most famous Mardi Gras parade organizations. According to the article, members of Rex are currently donating a significant amount of time and money to a number of the new, up and coming charter schools that have filled the void left by some of the failing public schools that couldn’t make ends meet after Katrina. So far, Rex has given $274,000 to these schools. While estimates vary as to the number of members that have donated their time, Rex spokesperson Christy Brown estimates that the number is likely to be as large as several hundred.

In post-Katrina New Orleans the reasons to celebrate have at times been few. With Mardi Gras, however, we are reminded of the jubilance and resiliance that define the character of this city and we are provided, in the case of Rex at least, with a concrete example of the good things that can happen when citizens come together to improve their communities.