Fat Tuesday got off to an early morning start in the Big Easy.

Before sunrise Tuesday about one hundred people turned out at the Backstreet Cultural Museum to see the North Side Skull & Bone Gang come out.

The gang is a longtime Mardi Gras tradition. They wear costumes resembling skeletons with paper mache masks covering their heads and go through the neighborhood waking people up on Fat Tuesday.

Dabne Whitemore came to the door in her white bathrobe after hearing the gang and their drums coming from down the street.

She said she's been living in the neighborhood for about 15 years and called the tradition "wonderful."

Fat Tuesday marks the end of the Mardi Gras season before the beginning of Lent, a period of penance and spiritual renewal.

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