Posted on 03/01/2022 5:35:40 AM PST by Bratch
Today is Fat Tuesday, the culmination of the famous season of Mardi Gras.
Debauchery. Bacchanalia. Floats, costumes, beads and masks, and lots of drinking and partying. That’s what we think of when we hear the term Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday.
There is a lot more behind it. Also called Shrove Tuesday, it marks the last day of the liturgical calendar before Lent begins.
After Catholicism spread throughout Europe, many cultures celebrated the final day before Lent began in ways unique to that individual culture. Eggs, and milk were finished off in one day, giving rise to the term Fat Tuesday. In Poland, such things as lard, sugar, eggs, and fruit were forbidden during Lent, and the beloved pączki became a special treat for Fat Tuesday, and in Detroit they still sell many thousands of them to long lines of people.
Enjoy your Fat Tuesday and spare a thought to the next forty days. Why not observe Lent, and use the time to more deeply appreciate Christ’s sacrifice and his love for us?
I am sure you’ve seen people on Ash Wednesday with a cross traced on their foreheads. Many churches have Ash Wednesday services, and all are welcome. It’s a thought-provoking way to begin your journey, to center and prepare yourself to make changes, to clean out some baggage and make more room for the truly important things.
And tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
And Biden’s State of the Union is tonight? How appropriate.
Happy Mardi Gras from Cajun country.
man i forgot to make beignets again! Crap.
Each year I always attempt and fail to give up the same thing.
Celibacy!
The celebrations in 2020 and 2021 were likewise extremely muted (but due to the "Corona Scare").
Can't a fellah get a break?
Regards,
Mardi Gras this year was the first full bore celebration since 2019 and the start of the COVID pandemic. And, as always, Mardi Gras manifests New Orleans’ unusual character: old, with a strong sense of itself; deeply Catholic; with a French and European flair; geographically isolated; poor; and constrained, menaced, and sustained by the river.
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