VOA · Arts & Culture
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed3:462025-02-26public domain
The Arts & Culture beat covers music, film, museums, food, and traditions from the United States and around the world. The reports are short, vivid, and full of everyday descriptive language — great for learners who want vocabulary beyond textbooks.
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01Wild celebrations of Mardi Gras come just before the start of Lent.
02Lent is the Christian observance leading up to the Easter holiday.
03It is a serious spiritual time, especially important to Roman Catholics.
04The name Mardi Gras comes from the French language.
05It means Fat Tuesday.
06The day is also called Shrove Tuesday in some places.
07Mardi Gras marks the end of the Carnival period, a time of public merrymaking, energetically observed in Europe and South America.
08During Mardi Gras, huge crowds fill the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the southern part of the United States.
09People from all over the country come to eat, drink, and dance.
10Police watch the crowds carefully.
11Many parties and parades have already taken place by the time Fat Tuesday arrives.
12In fact, activities start in January and last for weeks before the Big Tuesday.
13Social groups hold parades.
14Some of the huge floats, or special parade vehicles, carry up to 250 people.
15Riders on the parade floats wear colorful clothes.
16Top hats made from bird feathers can stand a meter tall.
17Beautiful and sometimes strange masks cover the faces of people on the floats.
18These people throw cups and necklaces to the crowds of people who watch the parades.
19Another tradition is to eat king cake.
20This food, similar to a sweet bread, is served at Mardi Gras parties.
21Inside one piece is a small plastic baby.
22Whoever gets the baby must promise to hold the next party.
23The French Quarter is the oldest part of the city.
24It remains the heart of New Orleans.
25And the French Quarter is where some of the best food, a mix of French and Caribbean influences, can be found.
26In New Orleans, music spills into the streets, not just at Mardi Gras, but throughout the year.
27New Orleans is known as the birthplace of jazz.
28But local sounds also include Cajun and Zydeco music.
29On Bourbon Street, the music and the crowds seem like a huge celebration that never ends.
30The most traditional old-time jazz is played at Preservation Hall in the French Quarter.
31I'm Dorothy Gundy.
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