About 50 other parades are scheduled to roll over the next 12 days, culminating with Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the raucous pre-Lenten climax that falls on Feb. 5 this year.
Friday's New Orleans parades were being staged by the clubs (known as "krewes") of Oshun and Pygmalion. Oshun rolled despite the rain, but Pygmalion rescheduled its romp through the streets for Wednesday. Parades scheduled in suburban Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes also were postponed.
The Krewe of Cork's annual foot parade through the French Quarter was held before the rain fell. The krewe's members don wine- and grape-related costumes and culminate their day of "wine, food and fun" with a King and Queen's party, krewe officials said.
The biggest parades - Endymion, Bacchus, Orpheus, Rex and Zulu - will take place during the season's final four days. Some will feature celebrity riders, including movie star Kevin Costner, who is scheduled to ride in Endymion on Friday, Feb. 2.
About 800,000 people participated in Carnival last year, up from an estimated 350,000 in 2006, New Orleans' first Mardi Gras after Hurricane Katrina.
