While many people know about the parades, Bourbon Street and the gala parties, most are probably unaware of the history of Mardi Gras.
If your thinking that it had a connection to Easter, you would be correct.
Mardi Gras and Carnival are the same celebration.
Though Mardi Gras technically refers only to Fat Tuesday, the Mardi Gras season actually begins on Epiphany, a Christian holiday celebrated on January 6 that is otherwise known as Three Kings Day or the Twelfth Day of Christmas.
In Brazil and many other countries, this period between Epiphany and Fat Tuesday is known as Carnival.
Whichever name you prefer to use, the revelries of Mardi Gras last until midnight tonight, when Ash Wednesday ushers in 40 days of Lent.
We can trace Mardi Gras all the way back to the pagan spring festivals.
It has the same atmosphere as the crazy Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia.
Once Christianity came to Rome, religious leaders tried to blend the pagan traditions with their Christian beliefs and traditions for a smoother transition.
What resulted was a festival where people drank, feasted, danced, and partied before the somber period of Lent began.
This may come as a surprise, but Mardi Gras long predates Christianity.
The earliest record comes from ancient times, when tribes celebrated the festival that welcomed the arrival of spring, a time of renewal of life.
The Romans called this pagan festival Lupercalia in honor of “Lupercus,” the Roman god.
Lupercalia was a drunken merrymaking held each February in Rome, after which participants fasted for 40 days.
Interestingly, similar to modern celebrations, the Romans wore masks, dressed in costumes and gave themselves to the gods “Bacchus” and “Venus”.
As pagans were overrun by Catholicism, they still did not want to give up this popular celebration.
Church leaders, seeing that it was impossible to completely stop the Pagans from their customs, decided to “Christianize” this festival.
Thus, Carnival was created as a time of merrymaking immediately preceding their pagan 40-day fast, which the church renamed “Lent.”
The festival then spread to Europe, where it was celebrated in England, Spain, Germany, France and other countries.
During the Middle Ages, a festival similar to the present-day Mardi Gras was given by monarchs and lords prior to Lent.
Another tradition is the serving the “King Cake.”
This custom began in ancient times, when tribes celebrated the arrival of spring by making a cake and putting a bean in it.
After the tradition was adopted by The Catholic Church, the narrative changed.
Now it seems , the cakes were made in a circle to represent the circular route that the wise men supposedly took to find the baby Jesus in order to confuse King Herod (and us) disrupting his plans to kill the Christ child.
Today, King Cakes contain baby figurines to represent (surprise surprise, “the Christ child”).
