As a former resident of New Orleans, I couldn't let the Mardi Gras season pass with some form of acknoledgement. Carnival becomes so much a part of your life that you miss it when you're gone. (There was one year when it was canceled because of police strike. See newspaper headline in picture at left). Who better than offer us Mardi Gras greetings than New Orleans Bread for the World and Sister Jane Remson? In her monthly newsletter, Sister Jane provided us a history of Mardi Gras, which I reprint here. Mardi Gras, literally “Fat Tuesday,” has its roots in the Christian calendar as the last hurrah before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. What is less known about Mardi Gras is its relation to the Christmas season, through the ordinary-time interlude known in many Catholic cultures as Carnival.(Ordinary time, in the Christian calendar, refers to the normal ordering of time outside of the Advent/Christmas or Lent/Easter seasons).
Carnival comes from the Latin words came vale, meaning “farewell to the flesh. It likely has its roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a Fast of 40 Days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.
The Carnival season kicks off with the Epiphany, also known as Twelfth Night, Three Kings’ Day and, in the Eastern churches, Theophany, Epiphany, which falls on January 6, 12 days after Christmas, that celebrates the visit of the Wise Men bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. In cultures that celebrate Carnival, Epiphany kicks off a series of parties leading up to Mardi Gras.
Traditionally Epiphany is when celebrants serve King’s Cake, a custom that began in France in the 12th century. Legend has it that the cakes were made in a circle to represent the circular routes that the Wise Men took to find Jesus, in order to confuse King Herod and foil his plans of killing the Christ Child. A coin or bean was hidden inside the cake, and whoever found the item was said to have good luck in the coming year. In Louisiana, bakers now put a small baby, representing the Christ Child, in the cake; the recipient is then expected to host the next King Cake party. There are well-known season-long Carnival celebrations in Europe and Latin America, including Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The best known celebration in the U.S. is in New Orleans and the French-Catholic communities of the Gulf Coast. Mardi Gras came to the New World in 1699, when a French explorer arrived at the Mississippi River, about 60 miles south of present day New Orleans. He named the spot Point du Mardi Gras because he knew the holiday was being celebrated in his native country that day.
Eventually, the French in New Orleans celebrated Mardi Gras with masked balls and parties, until the Spanish government took over in the mid-1700 and banned the celebrations. The ban continued even after the U.S. government acquired the land but the celebrations resumed in 1827. The official colors of Mardi Gras were chosen 10 years later: purple, a symbol of justice; green, representing faith; and gold, to signify power. The name Mardi Gras comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of Carnival.
HAPPY MARDI GRAS!
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