Kings Point (Jan 10, 2017) - After all the presents have been opened, New Year's Eve celebrated and the cornucopia of bowl games are over many Americans suffer from SAD. SAD stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known as the January Blues, Winter Depression or The Winter Blues. SAD impacts over 10 million Americans every January. Research has revealed that up to 20 percent of our population wrestle with SAD. Some people even refer to the first two months of the year as Januweary and Febuweary. However, Louisiana has an antidote for the SAD Blues.

In Louisiana, along with the Mississippi, Alabama, and East Texas, the Mardi Gras tree has taken hold to help cope with the winter blues!  The story goes that after Christmas someone removed all of the ornaments off of their artificial Christmas tree but left the tree up. Why they left the tree up is unknown; were they too busy, too distracted or just too lazy? After attending the first Mardi Gras parade of the Carnival season, they arrived home with their green, purple and gold beads and got the bright idea to throw them on the bare tree. More parades meant more beads and by the time Mardi Gras rolled around there stood a fully decorated tree. For some, the Epiphany, Jan. 6, marks the end of the Christmas season and is the deadline to put away the Christmas tree. However, Jan. 6 is also known as Twelfth Night- the start of the Carnival season and the time to swap out Christmas ornaments for Mardi Gras ones.

As this new tradition spread, purple, green and gold Christmas ornaments were added along with Mardi Gras masks and a few Fleur De Lis.  Mardi Gras ornaments can go up as soon as the Christmas ornaments come down! More than that, the Christmas Holidays can become the pinnacle of a mountain for some folks with nowhere to go but down. The Mardi Gras tree helps brighten those dark days of winter. It also reveals, that in this wonderful life, there's always something to look forward to.

This year, the United States Merchant Marine Academy will have its first Mardi Gras tree in hopes to help brighten the winter blues and help our Mids from the Lousiana Purchase states feel more at home! Stop in and check it out. You might learn at thing or two about the Mardi Gras while you are at it!

Learn here about some of the traditions of Mardi Gras!

This year, Mardi Gras is February 28.  There are some surprises in store. Stay tuned and Les Bon Temps Roule!

Special Thanks to all family and alumni who have sent us beads for our tree.  The Midshipmen love it! ;)