It’s Fat Tuesday!

24th February 2009

posted in Arts & Culture, Food History, Pop Culture, Recipes |

Mardi Gras 2009

Today is Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, the festive day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras arrived in the U.S. around 1699 when a French explorer named Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville arrived about 60 miles south of New Orleans and named it Point du Mardi Gras after the holiday being celebrated in his native country that day. When the Spanish claimed the land in the 1700s, Mardi Gras celebrations were banned. The ban continued through 1827 when the festivities resumed. It’s now considered a legal holiday in New Orleans, with many other cities holding their own localized festivities.

Mardi Gras is translated from the French as Fat Tuesday; it’s the last day of the weeks-long Carnival season of feasting and celebration. On the next day, Ash Wednesday, Christian revelers sober up for the pre-Easter fasting and the penitential season of Lent. King cakes, which represent the tradition of the three kings who brought gifts to the baby Jesus, first appeared in 1871. The modern tradition now is to bake a plastic baby into one of the cakes. Whomever receives the cake with baby either buys the next king cake or plays host to the next party. As for Mardi Gras’ other modern “tradition”… not to dash the hopes of horny men everywhere, but boob-flashing for beads has nothing to do with the real Mardi Gras and everything to do with drunken college kids — or so event organizers and locals insist.

You don’t have to be Catholic to celebrate Fat Tuesday in your own way. Check out some Mardi Gras inspired recipes, bake your very own king cake or try a new drink concoction. Consider donating to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts or to the Humane Society of Louisiana. Festooon yourself in gaudy beads, don a glittery top hat and feather mask, turn on some jazz music and invite over some friends and celebrate the one day of the year when fat isn’t considered an f-word.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Arts & Culture, Food History, Pop Culture, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On February 24th, 2009, Carrie said:

Thanks for this- I’m from Detroit originally, which has a large Polish population, and one of their traditions on Fat Tuesday is “Paczki Day“. Around DC, if you can find any, they’re usually just overpriced jelly doughnuts. NOT the same thing.

Sorry. Just getting nostalgic.

posted on February 24th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

2 On February 24th, 2009, Bree said:

My town has a long history that involves France and has a French name, so tonight they’re having their own Mardi Gras parade and celebrations. But with it being so cold out, I doubt we’ll see anybody flash for beads!

posted on February 24th, 2009 at 4:31 pm

3 On February 24th, 2009, April D said:

Thanks for the reminder! A festive day to enjoy some jazz and bright colors to remind us the end of winter is near! Happy Mardi Gras!

posted on February 24th, 2009 at 4:48 pm

4 On February 24th, 2009, Mads said:

Carrie, me too! Every Fat Tuesday, my mom would come home with a giant box of paczki right before Lent. I’m now at college 200 mi away from home, though, so no paczki for me.

posted on February 24th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

5 On February 24th, 2009, Arielle said:

It’s actually Fausnacht Day too. You know what that is if you’re Pennsylvania Dutch and live in PA. Like I do!

posted on February 24th, 2009 at 10:50 pm

6 On February 25th, 2009, magic_at_mungos said:

It’s Pancake day in the UK (Shrove Tuesday). Lots of yummy pancakes.

I don’t know whether it’s different here because the UK is mainly Protestant.

posted on February 25th, 2009 at 4:24 am

7 On February 25th, 2009, Karin said:

Here in Germany, you celebrate the “fifth season” aka Karneval/Fasching/Fastnacht, which officially starts on 11/11 at 11:11 am and ends on Ash Wednesday. The zenith of the celebrations are on “Rosenmontag” (Rose Monday) and “Faschingsdienstag” (Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday) and the weekend before those two days – people celebrate with big costumed street parades, costume parties and a LOT of partying.
We also have paczki as typical Fasching treats, but here they are called Krapfen, Kreppel, Pfannkuchen or Berliner (name depends on the region you live in).

posted on February 25th, 2009 at 6:25 am

8 On February 25th, 2009, bri said:

Pancake/Shrove Tuesday here in Australia too. Although definitely not a holiday of any sorts, most people probably wouldnt even know what Shrove Tuesday was or that what they know as Pancake Tuesday is actually a religious event. In fact, most people probably wouldnt even realise Ash Wednesday is from the religious calendar and not just the name of the day horrific bushfires killed 70+ people in two states back in the early 80s.

posted on February 25th, 2009 at 8:47 pm