What is Mardi Gras, really?

If you are like me, Mardi Gras was not a focus of your childhood. You knew about it. You heard about the inappropriate things, but you did not participate. You never saw it for yourself and honestly, you really didn’t even know what it was all for. You may still not actually know what this whole Mardi Gras thing is really about. There is no judgment from me! I would probably be in the same float had I not met Kyle, but today all of that can change. I am here to explain Mardi Gras to the best of my understanding in written communication! Meaning that, hopefully, by the time you are finished reading this you will have a greater understanding of this unique holiday.

Pope Gregory XIII added Mardi Gras to the calendar in 1582, as listed here in an article titled 8 things you didn’t know about Mardi Gras. The Catholic tradition, in some ways is a consistent rotation between fasting and feasting. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. Why would one call Tuesday fat? Well, Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the first of 40 days of fasting and prayer leading up to Easter Sunday. These 40 days are called Lent and it is representative of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan. The Carnival Season, which has also come to be known as the Mardi Gras season, is a period of fun and feasting before the period of fasting that is Lent. In New Orleans, Louisiana the Carnival Season begins on January sixth and continues through Fat Tuesday, the final day to “get fat”.

According to mardigrasneworleans.com, traces of Mardi Gras can be found dating back to Medieval Europe and the French House of the Bourbons in the 17th and 18th centuries. The question of how Mardi Gras came to be in America is one that leads to far more interesting stories as well as some debates. However, I will save that, and all of it’s intricacies for a later blog. The simple answer to the question posed by the title, (What is Mardi Gras, really?) Mardi Gras is a celebration rooted in Catholic tradition intended to make the most of the time before Lent.

Do you celebrate Mardi Gras? Let us know in the comments below!