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Mardi Gras

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This article is about the carnival holiday. For other uses, see Mardi Gras (disambiguation).

Mardi Gras
KosmicFrenchmenPurpleFaceMardiGras2009.JPG
Also calledFat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday
TypeCatholic, Cultural
SignificanceCelebration period before fasting season of Lent
CelebrationsParades, parties
DateDay before Ash Wednesday, 47 days before Easter
2018 dateFebruary 13
2019 dateMarch 5
2020 dateFebruary 25
2021 dateFebruary 16
FrequencyAnnual
Related toShrove Tuesday; Carnival, Shrove Monday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Užgavėnės, Maslenitsa, Valentine's Day

Mardi Gras (/ˈmɑːrdi ˌɡrɑː/), or Fat Tuesday, refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday (known as Shrove Tuesday). Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

Related popular practices are associated with Shrovetide celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. In countries such as the United Kingdom, Mardi Gras is also known as Shrove Tuesday, which is derived from the word shrive, meaning "to administer the sacrament of confession to; to absolve".[1]

History

133–31 BC

Some think Mardi Gras may be linked[2] with the ancient Roman pagan celebrations of spring and fertility such as Saturnalia, which dates back to 133–31 BC; this celebration honored the god of agriculture, Saturn. It was observed in mid-December, before the sowing of winter crops, it was a week-long festival when work and business came to a halt. Schools and courts of law closed, and the normal social patterns were suspended.

On the Julian calendar, which the Romans used at the time, the winter solstice fell on December 25. Hence, the celebration gradually became associated with Christmas.

4 BC onwards

The festival is more commonly associated with Christian tradition. In the Gospel of Matthew the biblical Magi (also called the 'Three Wise Men' or 'Three Kings') visited Jesus with gifts containing gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So twelve days after Christmas, Western Christians celebrate the feast of Epiphany, a celebration of Jesus coming for more than just the Jews, as even Gentile magi were allowed to see him; this begins the Carnival celebration which continues until the day before Ash Wednesday. The culmination of this celebration overlapped with the beginning of Lent. Early Christians believed that during the Lenten season (the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, not including Sundays), Christians should deprive themselves of anything (especially foods) that brought joy so that they might understand better the trials that Jesus faced leading up to his death on Good Friday. Thus, on the Tuesday before Lent and the last day of Epiphany, Christians would celebrate with a feast of their favorite foods to tide them over the coming weeks.

These feasts, which first were only meant for Christians, were expanded so that Christians would celebrate with their neighbors and friends. Slowly, feasts like Shrove Tuesday became public celebrations and adapted many names and traditions as they spread.

Traditions

The festival season varies from city to city, as some traditions, such as the one in New Orleans, Louisiana, consider Mardi Gras to stretch the entire period from Twelfth Night (the last night of Christmas which begins Epiphany) to Ash Wednesday.[3][4] Others treat the final three-day period before Ash Wednesday as the Mardi Gras.[5] In Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras–associated social events begin in November, followed by mystic society balls on Thanksgiving,[3][6] then New Year's Eve, followed by parades and balls in January and February, celebrating up to midnight before Ash Wednesday. In earlier times, parades were held on New Year's Day.[3] Other cities famous for Mardi Gras celebrations include Rio de Janeiro; Barranquilla, Colombia; George Town, Cayman Islands; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; and Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Carnival is an important celebration in Anglican and Catholic European nations.[1] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the week before Ash Wednesday is called "Shrovetide", ending on Shrove Tuesday, it has its popular celebratory aspects, as well. Pancakes are a traditional food. Pancakes and related fried breads or pastries made with sugar, fat, and eggs are also traditionally consumed at this time in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mardi Gras in Dakar, Senegal
Mardi Gras in Marseille, France
Mardi Gras in Binche, Belgium

Belgium

In the Belgian city of Binche, the Mardi Gras festival is one of the most important days of the year and the summit of the Carnival of Binche. Around 1000 Gilles dance throughout the city from morning until past dusk, whilst traditional carnival songs play. In 2003, the "Carnival of Binche" was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Another noteworthy celebration in Belgium is Aalst Carnaval. Mardi Gras is considered the day of the "Voil Janet" or "Dirty Sissy". Traditionally in Aalst, men dress as their wives or mothers; this custom called "Voil Janet" goes back to the time when Aalst was an industrial time and workers did not have the money to buy dresses. On Mardi Gras the "Voil Janet" gets a parade dedicated to it. Men and woman dressed traditionally get to walk along in the parade, and interact with the viewers.

The word "Voil" in the local dialect, means dirty (= Dutch "vuil", cognate with English "foul"). Hence why the parade is sometimes claimed obnoxious, dirty and flatout obscene. Though the parade has mellowed down over the years due to restrictions implemented by the town.

Later that day people gather around an effigy that is lit; this event is paired with a lot of music, emotions and fraternity. The event is known for the fact that almost every person in the crowd starts crying. After that, there is one last night of celebration.

Brazil

Main article: Brazilian Carnival

Carnival is the most famous Brazilian holiday. During this time, Brazil attracts 70% of its tourists. Variations in carnival celebrations are observed throughout the multitude of Brazilian cities. Commonality observed among them is the incorporation of samba into the celebrations; the southeastern cities of Brazil have massive parades that take place in large sambadromes. The Rio Carnival is where two million people celebrate in the city; the city of Salvador holds a very large carnival celebration where millions of people celebrate the party in the streets of the city with a very big diversity of musical styles together.

Cayman Islands

Cayman Mardi Gras hosts a popular Monday Food Festival prior to the Fat Tuesday Festivities. Ash Wednesday being a holiday has a daytime party in George Town which coincides with the annual Agriculture Fair which is attended by thousands of residents.

Colombia

Main article: Barranquilla's Carnival

Carnaval de Barranquilla is Colombia's Mardi Gras celebration. In 2003, it was proclaimed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic it is a folk tradition to celebrate Mardi Gras, which is called Masopust (meat-fast i.e. beginning of fast there). There are celebration in many places including Prague[7] but the tradition also prevails in the villages such as Staré Hamry, whose the door-to-door processions there made it to the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List.[8]

France

Carnival parades take place in many cities such as Nice, Alpes Maritimes, Dunkerque, Granville, Sarreguemines as well as in the French Caribbean islands Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The Nice Carnival is held annually in Nice on the French Riviera; the earliest records establish its existence in 1294 when the Count of Provence, Charles Anjou, wrote that he had passed "the joyous days of carnival." This may make the Nice Carnival the original carnival celebration. Today the event attracts over a million visitors to Nice every year over a two-week period.

Germany

Main articles: Karneval, Fasching and Fastnacht

The celebration on the same day in Germany knows many different terms, such as Schmutziger Donnerstag or Fetter Donnerstag (Fat Thursday), Unsinniger Donnerstag, Weiberfastnacht, Greesentag and others, and are often only one part of the whole carnival events during one or even two weeks before Ash Wednesday be called Karneval, Fasching, or Fastnacht among others, depending on the region. In standard German, schmutzig means "dirty", but in the Alemannic dialects schmotzig means "lard" (Schmalz), or "fat";[9] "Greasy Thursday", as remaining winter stores of lard and butter used to be consumed at that time, before the fasting began. Fastnacht means "Eve of the Fast", but all three terms cover the whole carnival season; the traditional start of the carnival season is on 11 November at 11:11 am (11/11 11:11).

Italy

In Italy Mardi Gras is called Martedì Grasso (Fat Tuesday). It's the main day of Carnival along with the Thursday before, called Giovedí Grasso (Fat Thursday), which ratifies the start of the celebrations; the most famous Carnivals in Italy are in Venice, Viareggio and Ivrea. Ivrea has the characteristic "Battle of Oranges" that finds its roots in medieval times; the Italian version of the festival is spelled Carnevale.[10]

Netherlands

Main article: Carnival in the Netherlands

The Netherlands also has a festival similar to Mardi Gras. It's called Carnaval and is similar to the Venice Carnival; the origin of the word Carnaval is carnem levare which means "to take away meat" in Latin, or carne vale, Latin for "farewell to meat". It marks the beginning of Lent (1 March 2017) leading up to Easter

The carnival in the Netherlands is mainly held in the southern part of the Netherlands in the provinces of Noord-Brabant and Limburg, some parts of Zeeland and in eastern parts of Twente and Gelderland; as with many popular festivals, people tend to loosen some moral codes and become laid-back or loose, which is based in the ancient role-reversal origins of Carnaval, including dressing in costumes.

Russia and Ukraine

Both Russia and Ukraine have the festival of Maslenitsa (Масленица, rus.), which on its pagan side celebrates the end of winter and the upcoming summer, and on its Christian side marks the last week before the Great Fasting period before Christian Easter. The festival includes family gatherings with festive meals and treats of bliny (crepes) that resemble the round shape of sun, and culminates on the weekend with mass outdoors gatherings, festivities and entertaining activities such as pole climbing, where a wheel with variety of presents is affixed on the top of a long pole and the contestants need to reach the top to get them; also the festival's mascot – a feminine figure made out of straw, which symbolizes winter, gets put on fire at the end of the celebration.

Sweden

In Sweden the celebration is called Fettisdagen, when you eat fastlagsbulle, more commonly called Semla; the name comes from the words "fett" (fat) and "tisdag" (Tuesday). Originally, this was the only day one should eat fastlagsbullar.[11]

United States

See also: Mardi Gras in the United States, Mardi Gras in Mobile, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans

While not observed nationally throughout the United States, a number of traditionally ethnic French cities and regions in the country have notable celebrations. Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers,[12] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiane, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and part of eastern Texas.[12]

The expedition, led by Iberville, entered the mouth of the Mississippi River on the evening of 2 March 1699 (new style), Lundi Gras, they did not yet know it was the river explored and claimed for France by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1683. The party proceeded upstream to a place on the east bank about 60 miles downriver from where New Orleans is today, and made camp; this was on 3 March 1699, Mardi Gras, so in honour of this holiday, Iberville named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (French: "Mardi Gras Point") and called the nearby tributary Bayou Mardi Gras.[13] Bienville went on to found the settlement of Mobile, Alabama in 1702 as the first capital of French Louisiana.[14] In 1703 French settlers in Mobile established the first organised Mardi Gras celebration tradition in what was to become the United States;[12][15][16][17] the first informal mystic society, or krewe, was formed in Mobile in 1711, the Boeuf Gras Society.[15] By 1720, Biloxi had been made capital of Louisiana; the French Mardi Gras customs had accompanied the colonists who settled there.[12]

Knights of Revelry parade down Royal Street in Mobile during the 2010 Mardi Gras season.

In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans, founded in 1718;[14] the first Mardi Gras parade held in New Orleans is recorded to have taken place in 1837. The tradition in New Orleans expanded to the point that it became synonymous with the city in popular perception, and embraced by residents of New Orleans beyond those of French or Catholic heritage. Mardi Gras celebrations are part of the basis of the slogan Laissez les bons temps rouler ("Let the good times roll").[12][failed verification] On Mardi Gras Day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the last parades of the season wrap up and the celebrations come to a close with the Meeting of the Courts (known locally as the Rex Ball). Other cities along the Gulf Coast with early French colonial heritage, from Pensacola, Florida; Galveston, Texas; to Lake Charles and Lafayette, Louisiana; and north to Natchez, Mississippi and Alexandria, Louisiana, have active Mardi Gras celebrations.

Galveston's first recorded Mardi Gras celebration, in 1867, included a masked ball at Turner Hall (Sealy at 21st St.) and a theatrical performance from Shakespeare's "King Henry IV" featuring Alvan Reed (a justice of the peace weighing in at 350 pounds!) as Falstaff. The first year that Mardi Gras was celebrated on a grand scale in Galveston was 1871 with the emergence of two rival Mardi Gras societies, or "Krewes" called the Knights of Momus (known only by the initials "K.O.M.") and the Knights of Myth, both of which devised night parades, masked balls, exquisite costumes and elaborate invitations. The Knights of Momus, led by some prominent Galvestonians, decorated horse-drawn wagons for a torch lit night parade. Boasting such themes as "The Crusades," "Peter the Great," and "Ancient France," the procession through downtown Galveston culminated at Turner Hall with a presentation of tableaux and a grand gala.

In the rural Acadiana area, many Cajuns celebrate with the Courir de Mardi Gras, a tradition that dates to medieval celebrations in France.[18]

St. Louis, Missouri, founded in 1764 by French fur traders, claims to host the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States.[19] The celebration is held in the historic French neighborhood, Soulard, and attracts hundreds of thousands of people from around the country.[20] Although founded in the 1760s, the St. Louis Mardi Gras festivities only date to the 1980s;[21] the city's celebration begins with "12th night," held on Epiphany, and ends on Fat Tuesday. The season is peppered with various parades celebrating the city's rich French Catholic heritage.[22]

Costumes

Mardi Gras, as a celebration of life before the more-somber occasion of Ash Wednesday, nearly always involves the use of masks and costumes by its participants. In New Orleans, for example, these often take the shape of fairies, animals, people from myths, or various Medieval costumes[23] as well as clowns and Indians (Native Americans).[24] However, many costumes today are simply elaborate creations of colored feathers and capes. Unlike Halloween costumery, Mardi Gras costumes are not usually associated with such things as zombies, mummies, bats, blood, and the like, though death may be a theme in some; the Venice tradition has brought golden masks into the usual round of costumes.[25]

Exposure by women

A topless woman at a coffee house, Mardi Gras event in New Orleans, 2009

Women exposing their breasts during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, US, has been documented since 1889, when the Times-Democrat decried the "degree of immodesty exhibited by nearly all female masqueraders seen on the streets." The practice was mostly limited to tourists in the upper Bourbon Street area.[26][27] In the crowded streets of the French Quarter, generally avoided by locals on Mardi Gras Day, flashers on balconies cause crowds to form on the streets.

In the last decades of the 20th century, the rise in producing commercial videotapes catering to voyeurs helped encourage a tradition of women baring their breasts in exchange for beads and trinkets. Social scientists studying "ritual disrobement" found, at Mardi Gras 1991, 1,200 instances of body-baring in exchange for beads or other favors.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Melitta Weiss Adamson, Francine Segan (2008). Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Super Bowl. ABC-CLIO. In Anglican countries, Mardis Gras is known as Shrove Tuesday-from shrive meaning "confess"-or Pancake Day — after the breakfast food that symbolizes one final hearty meal of eggs, butter, milk and sugar before the fast. On Ash Wednesday, the morning after Mardi Gras, repentant Christians return to church to receive upon the forehead the sign of the cross in ashes.
  2. ^ "9 Things You May Not Know About Mardi Gras". History. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Mardi Gras Terminology". "Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau". Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2007. Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
  4. ^ Wilds, John; Charles L. Dufour; Walter G. Cowan (1996). Louisiana, Yesterday and Today: A Historical Guide to the State. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0807118931. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  5. ^ Bratcher, Dennis (7 January 2010). "The Season of Lent". Christian Resource Institute. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  6. ^ "Mobile Carnival Association, 1927", MardiGrasDigest.com, 2006, webpage: mardigrasdigest-Mobile Archived 7 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Mardi Gras in Bohemia-Prague". Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Staročeský masopust Hamry". Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  9. ^ "Woher hat der Schmutzige Donnerstag seinen Namen?". Regionalzeitung Rontaler AG (in German). 17 February 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  10. ^ Killinger, Charles L. (2005). Culture and Customs of Italy. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0313324895.
  11. ^ "Swedish semla: more than just a bun". Sweden.se. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011. Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
  12. ^ a b c d e "New Orleans & Mardi Gras History Timeline " (event list), Mardi Gras Digest, 2005, webpage: MG-time Archived 24 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "9 Things You May Not Know About Mardi Gras". History.com. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  14. ^ a b "Timeline 18th Century:" (events), Timelines of History, 2007, webpage: TLine-1700-1724: on "1702–1711" of Mobile.
  15. ^ a b "Carnival/Mobile Mardi Gras Timeline". Museum of Mobile. Museum of Mobile. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  16. ^ "Mardi Gras in Mobile" (history), Jeff Sessions, Senator, Library of Congress, 2006, webpage: LibCongress-2665.
  17. ^ "Mardi Gras" (history), Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2007, webpage: MGmobile.
  18. ^ Barry Jean Ancelet (1989). Capitaine, voyage ton flag : The Traditional Cajun Country Mardi Gras. Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana. ISBN 0-940984-46-6.
  19. ^ Geiling, Natasha. "Best Places to Celebrate Mardi Gras Outside of New Orleans". Smithsonian. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  20. ^ Houser, Dave G. "7 big Mardi Gras celebrations (not in New Orleans)". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  21. ^ "Mardi Gras in St. Louis' Soulard Neighborhood". Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  22. ^ "12th Night | Soulard Mardi Gras 2018". stlmardigras.org. St. Louis, MO. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  23. ^ Lisa Gabbert (1999). Mardi Gras: A City's Masked Parade; the Rosen Publishing Group. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8239-5337-0.
  24. ^ A Mardi Gras Dictionary. Pelican Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4556-0836-2.
  25. ^ J.C. Brown (2008). Carnival Masks of Venice: A Photographic Essay. AAPPL Artists & Photographers Press, Limited. ISBN 978-1-904332-83-1.
  26. ^ Sparks, R. “American Sodom: New Orleans Faces Its Critics and an Uncertain Future”. La Louisiane à la dérive. The École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales Coloquio. 16 December 2005.
  27. ^ a b Shrum, W. and J. Kilburn. "Ritual Disrobement at Mardi Gras: Ceremonial Exchange and Moral Order". Social Forces, Vol. 75, No. 2. (Dec. 1996), pp. 423–458.

External links

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