Mardi Gras is 47 days before Easter. It is always a Tuesday between February 3 and March 9, so the date changes every year.
Year
Date
Days away
2027
107 days
2028
492 days
2029
842 days
2030
1,227 days
2031
1,584 days
When is Mardi Gras 2027? 47 days before Easter
Mardi Gras has no date of its own. It is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, comes 46 days before Easter Sunday. That makes Mardi Gras 47 days before Easter, so it moves whenever Easter does. The Easter Sunday countdown explains how the church sets that date.
The 46 days run from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter and include six Sundays. Without them, 40 days remain: the forty days of Lent.
Easter
Ash Wednesday
Mardi Gras
March 22, the earliest possible
February 4, or February 5 in a leap year
February 3, or February 4 in a leap year
April 25, the latest possible
March 10
March 9
Mardi Gras is always a Tuesday between February 3 and March 9. Both ends are rare. A February 3 Mardi Gras happened in 1818 and will not recur until 2285. The latest date, March 9, fell in 1943 and comes back in 2038. The earliest Mardi Gras of the 21st century was February 5, 2008.
Carnival season, from Twelfth Night to Fat Tuesday
In New Orleans, the Library of Congress notes, Carnival opens on Twelfth Night, January 6, and Mardi Gras is its final day. The start never moves, but the finish follows Easter. Over the 21st century, Mardi Gras lands anywhere from 30 days after Twelfth Night, as in 2008, to 62 days after, in 2038. A February 9 Mardi Gras, as in 2027, leaves 34 days between the two.
Masking on Mardi Gras has its own clause in state law. R.S. 14:313 makes it a crime to hide your identity behind a mask or hood in public, punishable by six months to three years in prison. The ban does not cover carnival parades or masking on Mardi Gras, as long as the city, or the parish sheriff outside city limits, has authorized them.
Is Mardi Gras a holiday in Louisiana?
Yes, under state law, though not federally: the 11 holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103 leave it out. Louisiana’s holiday statute, R.S. 1:55, lists the day of Mardi Gras among the state’s legal holidays. State agencies give employees the day off where the work allows it.
Local closings are a separate decision. The same law lets 29 named parishes, among them Orleans, Jefferson and East Baton Rouge, and every city and town make Mardi Gras a holiday by ordinance.
Lundi Gras, French for Fat Monday, is the day before. It is not in the statute, so a state day off that Monday needs a proclamation from the governor. Governor Jeff Landry issued one for Monday, February 16, 2026 (Proclamation 02 JML 2026).
Alabama keeps its own Mardi Gras holiday. Section 1-3-8 of the Code of Alabama makes it a holiday in Mobile and Baldwin counties and closes state offices there.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mardi Gras the same day as Shrove Tuesday?
Yes. Shrove Tuesday is the English name for the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, names the same day.