Fat Tuesday is upon us! How truly exciting. Also known as Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday is the last day of Carnival, which begins on this date: the feast of Epiphany, Jan. 6., Or so the legend goes …
Fat Tuesday, mardi gras, ash wednesday, what ever you want to call it - here it is!
It is also more traditional, known as Kings “Twelfth Night or Day for this reason: January 6 celebrating the arrival of three kings at Jesus’ birthplace, thus ending the Christmas season. Oh No!
And in our great city of New Orleans, starting while the Carnival. The festival is fun its roots in various pagan celebrations of spring, which dates back 5000 years. Just as all religiions then? May disagree!
Some history: it was Pope Gregory the 8th made a Christian holiday, when the 1582, which set the Gregorian calendar (using a 12-month still). Thus, all his fault!
It was he who put Mardi Gras the day before on Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Smooth move. In this way, all the debauchery will end when it came time to fast and pray. Much of the first part of the Carnival season is the wedding ceremony invitation-only balls and dinner dances hosted by private clubs known as krewes.
Then the part comes to public life two weeks before Halloween, when krewes hit the streets, staging more than 70 parades in metropolitan New Orleans. Mardi Gras arrived in North America with brothers LeMoyne, Iberville and Bienville, in the late 17th century when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France’s claim to the territory of Louisiana. What a great story!
Now, I just want some pancakes! Over.