MARDI GRA (FAT TUESDAY)

"Let us walk reverently, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in strife and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of the flesh. (Romans 13:13-14)

Mardi Gra in the United States of America was adapted from the French name Mardi Gras, which means 'fat Tuesday', as well as Terça-feira gorda, in Portuguese-speaking countries. "Mardi Gras season" and "Carnival season" in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. The day is sometimes referred to as Shrove Tuesday, from the word shrive, meaning "confess." Related popular practices are associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent.

Mardi Gra, in the Christian (Catholic) calendar, is the second and last day of Carnival that precedes Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Intimes when Lent was more popular, the days before Ash Wednesday were known as Carnival or carnestolendas. These previous days were used to celebrate various activities such as banquets, dances, games and in this way they prepared for the beginning of the days of penance.

The origin of these celebrations dates back to pagan festivals of pre-Christian times, which corresponded to the ritual of the seasons and agricultural work. The origin of the name "Carnival" derives from the word "carne" (meat), the link with carne would suggest an origin with earlier religions ({carne para Bal} meat for Baal).

At the end of the 20th century, several authors began to suspect the pagan origin of the name. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church proposed an etymology of carnival: from the vulgar Latin carne-levare, which means 'to abandon meat' (which was precisely the obligatory prescription for all people during all Fridays of Lent).

The date of its celebration is variable, since it is celebrated 40 days before the Christian feast of Easter Sunday and this does not depend on the Gregorian calendar (exclusively solar) but on the ancient solar/lunar calendar. For Christianity, this Sunday is always the one following the first full moon after the equinox (and always falls between March 22 and April 25), so Mardi Gra Tuesday will always fall between February 18 and March 16 (one day later if it falls in February and it is a leap year).