While not observed nationally, this coming Tuesday a number of traditionally ethnic French cities and regions in our country will hold notable and unique celebrations on “Fat Tuesday.”
The history of Mardi Gras can be traced back to the second century when, during mid-February, ancient Romans would celebrate Lupercalia, a circus-type festival which was in many respects quite similar to our present-day Mardi Gras festivities. When Christianity replaced Roman deities, the leaders of the early Church decided it would be more prudent to incorporate certain aspects of such pagan rituals into the new faith rather than attempt to abolish them altogether. Thus, Mardi Gras has evolved as a pseudo-Christian interpretation of an ancient celebration.
Mardi Gras is a day of abandon and merriment that precedes the commencement of the Lenten season; a forty day period of fasting and penitence which commences on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday. Mardi Gras elevates our basest human proclivities of excessive eating, drinking, and general abandonment of our mundane daily routines into a raucous day of overindulgent celebration as a precursor to our embarkation on the spiritual journey of abstinence in preparation for the day that marks the culmination of our Christian faith – Jesus’s death and resurrection which is the fulfillment of God’s promise of eternal life for all that believe in and follow His word.
It might be easy for many to sense a dichotomy between the raucous traditions of Mardi Gras and the seriousness of the Lenten period. I, as do may who embrace both, disagree. From Genesis to Revelations, the Bible is replete with references to feasting and celebration. Remember, Jesus’s chose a marriage feast as the venue for His first miracle – turning water into wine.
Some believers associate the shunning of our humanness as the singular proper path to holiness. True, there are those whose faith calls them to embrace a monastic life and, in so doing, eliminate virtually all worldly influences in favor of solely focusing on the Divine. God bless them. Most of us, however, are not so called. Instead, we live in a contradictory world surrounded by good and evil, happiness and sadness, feast and famine and love and hate. In such a world, it is often too easy for us to fall into the trap of taking ourselves and the events that envelope our daily lives way too seriously.
Mardi Gras is a day cleansed of all worldly seriousness. It is a day when the most starched-shirt executive can shed his corporate vestments for those of a clown and compete with the common masses for the opportunity to catch a treasure trove of worthless trinkets. There are no “deadlines” or “bottom lines” to be found on Mardi Gras; only line dancers and parade lines. There is no worry about national or international issues, no political vitriol or rancor, no negative discourse. Those will all return on Wednesday. No, Fat Tuesday is a day solely dedicated to “not worrying about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself.” Matthew 6:34
- K. Chesterton wrote that “The reason angels can fly is that they take themselves so lightly.” Every once in a while we need to lighten our load, disconnect with reality, and just enjoy each other and the simple wonders that abound when the mundane trappings of our daily lives are shed. On Ash Wednesday we can begin the traditional serious period of paying reverent homage to our faith through contemplation, penitence and sacrifice. On Mardi Gras, we joyously celebrate our God-given gift of celebration by joining the angels in taking ourselves lightly… and flying high. There will soon follow a day for us to throw something away. Mardi Gras is our day to shout “Throw me something, Mister!”
Laissez les bon temps roulez!
William “Bill” Bacque