Christian Peterson
ECB Publishing, Inc.
According to the Vatican, there are over one billion Catholics in the world. Due to this, a large portion of the world celebrates two major holidays, Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday. Each day is special for its own reason and each day is a major cultural phenomenon throughout the world.
This year, Mardi Gras will be celebrated on Tuesday, Feb. 21. However, in many different cultures, it, can extend to long before that date. Some places consider the festival season to last from the last night of Christmas all the way until the official Tuesday date. Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday,” a comment on the fact that it is the last night of eating fatty foods before the penitential season of Lent. Mardi Gras officially started when Christianity arrived in the Roman Empire, after Constantine’s vision. As more Romans began converting to Christianity, they brought aspects of their previous traditions and incorporated them into the new faith. The festival stems from the festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia. This became a major festival in the Christian, then Catholic, tradition and, like Christianity, began spreading from Rome into Europe. Now, it is a worldwide celebration with different countries having their own traditions regarding the day.
In Belgium a three-day carnival is held called the Carnival of Binche. During this carnival, performers called Gilles wear costumes in the colors of red, black and yellow, the national colors. During their parade, the participants will throw oranges at the crowd. Farther north, in Sweden, the celebration is known as Fettisdagen. Traditionally, this was the only day it was proper to eat fastlagsbullar, a savory sweet pastry.
In the United States, the most prevalent celebration is in New Orleans, La. The first Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans was held in 1837. It has since blown up so much in popularity that it is almost synonymous with the city. It became so popular that there are some groups wholly dedicated to the festival, such as the Knights of Revelry. There is even the expression, “Laissex le bons temps rouler,” which means “let the good times roll.” This celebration is mostly celebrated by those with French or Catholic heritage, however, the celebration in New Orleans has grown so big that residents of all religions and cultures have adopted and celebrate the event.
While Mardi Gras is fun event, it leads up to a more solemn time, the largely Catholic season of Lent. The day after Mardi Gras is known as Ash Wednesday, which is the start of six weeks of penitence leading up to Easter. While this is largely celebrated by Catholics, there are a few other Western Christian denominations that observe the season, such as Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, Methodists and Nazarenes. Many Christians will attend a special service at church and receive ash on their foreheads during it. This is usually accompanied by the saying, “repent and believe in the gospel” or “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The ashes are made by burning palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday.
After Ash Wednesday, those practicing the tradition head into the Lenten sacrifice season. This season lasts for a total of 40 days until the Easter season. Historically, Christians fasted and practiced abstinence for the entire season. The abstention of food usually lasted for the whole day until the evening and at sunset. While many Western Christians broke this tradition, some Christians, most prevalently in India and Pakistan, still observe this tradition of fasting until sunset on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, while others observe it every day of the season. In the Roman Catholic Church, is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat and practicing repentance. In the modern day, many different churches also encourage fasting from a luxury. Many individuals will use this opportunity to start building better habits, such as quitting smoking, drinking, eating sweets, drinking soda even from various forms of entertainment.
The marking of congregants with ashes is the beginning of the Lent season and is practiced by either sprinkling ashes on the head or, in most English speaking countries, marking the forehead with a visible cross. The traditional saying that accompanies this gesture are “Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris,” which means “remember, man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.” The point of this is to remind partakers of the words spoken to Adam and Eve after their original sin, and is meant to remind people of their sinfulness and mortality, hoping to instigate a feeling of repentance.