Jody Victor: Mardi Gras means, literally, "Fat Tuesday," and is celebrated on the Tuesday that falls 47 days before the Easter holiday. The Mardi Gras holiday is noted for its impressive parades that feature floats, pageants, ornate costumes, masked balls, and dancing in the streets. For many Catholics and Christians it is they day before Ash Wednesday or the beginning of the Lenten season. This celebration falls between Feb. 3 and March 9, depending on the lunar calendar.

Mardi Gras was first celebrated in the New World in 1699 by the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne. Moyne landed in the Mississippi Delta Region on March 3, the same day France was celebrating Mardi Gras, and he named his camp "Pointe du Mardi Gras" in honor of the holiday.

However, Mardi Gras had been celebrated in Paris since the Middle Ages, and can be braced back to an ancient Roman celebration known as Lupercalia.

The holiday began to gain an identity in America in 1711, when citizens of Mobile, La. conducted the first Mardi Gras parade. However, it wasn't until 1835 that the first float was created. In 1867, the secret society Krewe of Comus was established to organize the parades.

Many other traditions were established through the years, such as King Cakes, which first appeared in 1871. King Cakes represent the tradition of the three kings who brought the gifts to baby Jesus. A modern tradition is to bake a plastic baby into one of the cakes, and whoever receives the cake with the baby in it either buys the next king cake or plays host to the next party. King cakes are made of a cinnamon filled dough that is shaped into a hollow circle. It is topped with a glazed topping and then sprinkled with colored sugar.

Due to the popularity of Mardi Gras, it has only been canceled four times since 1699. The first cancellation was caused by the Civil War in 1861 and the holiday wasn't celebrated again until 1865.

The second and fourth cancellations were because of the World War I and World War II. The third cancellation came during the Depression in 1933, and is the only one ever canceled because of rain.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : For President's Day - a collection of quotes from Presidents of the United States.

"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company." George Washington

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." Thomas Jefferson

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." James Madison

"The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought." Martin Van Buren

"It is not strange....to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!" Abraham Lincoln

"Let every man, every corporation, and especially let every village, town, and city, every county and State, get out of debt and keep out of debt. It is the debtor that is ruined by hard times." Rutherford B. Hayes

"If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it's the best possible substitute for it." James A. Garfield

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: Full moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent (ecliptic) longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun. At this time, as seen by viewers on Earth, the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing the earth (the near side) is almost fully illuminated by the Sun and appears round. Only during a full moon is the opposite hemisphere of the Moon, which is not visible from Earth (the far side), completely unilluminated.

The average lunar month is about 29.531 days long, so that the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th of the lunar month in those calendars that start the month on the new moon. In any event, as lunar months are counted in discrete numbers of days, lunar months are said to be either 29 or 30 days long.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: It's a sunny day in our part of the world on this 2009 Groundhog Day! Punxsutawney Phil was up early to give his yearly forcast. Here's Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2009 at sunrise on Gobbler's Knob:

Here Ye, Hear Ye,

On Gobbler's Knob this glorious Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2009

Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators

Awoke to the call of President Bill Cooper

And greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a joyful eye towards thousands of his faithful followers,

Phil proclaimed that his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers were World Champions one more time,

And a bright sky above me

Showed my shadow beside me.

So 6 more weeks of winter it will be!

Jody Victor