Mardi Gras is a festival that celebrates the period before Lent and Ash Wednesday. It is an explosion of colour, music and revelry, celebrated in many countries. Costumes often include Purple, Green and Gold and strings of beads as well as face masks. It was brought to New Orleans by enslaved Africans. They started out by singing, dancing, clapping and yelling. They used handmade instruments such as reed whistles and tin flageolets. Their main reason was to rejuvenate the spirit of the black community and celebrate freedom.