Mardi Gras

[carlyd81]

I don't want to offend anyone about what I'm about to say but I really wanted to share what I witnessed last night. I went to the Mardi Gras parade last night. I wanted to go to see what the fuss is all about. I don't celebrate the holiday because of all the junk that goes on but I wanted to see why people make such a big deal about this holiday. I

Comments

[t_jay]

I actually had never heard much about Mardi Gras until after I had moved out of California into Ohio. I don't know much about the origin of Mardi Gras, other than to celebrate the traditional religious "Fat Tuesday," the last night that you can do whatever you want before practicing Lent for six weeks or however long it is. :oP I've seen the Cops reruns where they filmed a couple of episodes in New Orleans and found the behavior quite appalling - people flashing themselves for beads, drunken brawls, etc. I would have been absolutely terrified if I had ever been in the middle of such an event

[leighann81]

This is exactly why I never have gone to Mardi Gras parades. I went to the "Krewe des Chein" (dog parade) 2 weekends ago and that's what I plan to do from now on! It was so cute and clean and so much fun to see.. just a bunch of cute doggies in costume walking (or sometimes riding on a float).. and the owners even throw beads.

I thought it was interesting last Saturday when I went to my grandfather's memorial and the priest talked about Ash Wednesday. He mentioned on Wednesday we would "come back to God". I looked at John and said "um, where have they been??". Come BACK to God? I just couldn't believe he had just said that.

[skreyola]

Todays holidays have strayed much from their origins. I believe that Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) was the day when Roman Catholics would consume whatever fat and meat was left in the house. Carnival comes from this practice, as I recall, for it means farewell to flesh.