Visit New Orleans for Mardi Gras and if you’re lucky, you’ll get tossed a strand of purple, green, or gold beads or maybe even one strand with all three and get to enjoy a slice of king cake ...

Some might even say the combination is gauche. But if you live in New Orleans, the purple, green and gold tri-color is a pledge of allegiance to something sacred: Mardi Gras. In 1892, the Rex ...