Each year, the week that precedes Lent is a festive blowout of partying that consumes New Orleans society. People come from all over the country and even from foreign countries, to partake of this ultimate party called Mardi Gras. The point of this city wide party is to eat, drink and be merry before the somber period of Lent arrives. The French Quarter comes alive with revelers of every description, dress and persuasion. Bourbon Street is filled with parades, jazz bands and traditional Mardi Gras foods in which to lose yourself in a celebration of life, with all of its vagaries. Whimsical, eccentric and outrageous demonstrations of the sort of life we are encouraged to disdain normally, come out of the woodwork of our minds, to be spent and shunned during Lent.