New Orleans caps a cheerfully defiant Mardi Gras season with plenty of costumed references to Hurricane Katrina. Now it's Ash Wednesday, and celebration will give way to Lent... a season of more sacrifice.
STEVE INSKEEP, host: Mardi Gras came to its cheerfully demented end in New Orleans last night. Some people celebrated in costumes made of blue tarps, the kind that have covered roof damage since Hurricane Katrina. They turned the tarps into ball gowns, or nun's habits.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: A parade also ran wound through Biloxi, Mississippi. People took a break from fixing homes to fix parade floats damaged in the storm.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The celebrations can make up in advance for what people are about to miss. For many Christians, this day, Ash Wednesday, starts a season of fasting or other acts of penance.