Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival, Fasching. All the same. Use up the fat with pancakes or other kinds of cakes, drink all the liquor, behave like a fool, as tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.
This ancient rite goes back to Roman times, as the precursor to Spring and a period of restraint in the last days of Winter. The Easter/Lenten connection dropped in with the development of Christianity, but at its heart, Fat Tuesday is as good an excuse to party it up as any we have.
How you choose to party it up, depends on all kinds of societal elements. New Orleans, with its usual flair and long Catholic and African heritage has raised Mardi Gras to a High Art adding their own spin in recent years of ‘Show Us Your Tits” in exchange for the beaded ‘throws’ or ‘doubloons’. Furtive fondling of women is de rigeur at Carnival. Pancakes are a UK/Canadian kind of thing, while Fasching in Germany involves elaborate costumes and huge meals before midnight, with much stealing of kisses, groping and general misbehaving.
In each instance we celebrate the potential arrival of Spring with one last dose of hoopla before we have to hunker down with spring planting, cleaning and the usual drone work of the change of seasons.
Welcome the Spring.
RoadDave 