Many are familiar with the celebration of Mardi Gras, a time of year that is spent partying and enjoying food. It's often forgotten that it has Catholic ties, though not everyone agrees on whether Catholics should participate in it.
What is it and when do Catholics celebrate it?
As long or as short as you want it to be
Strictly speaking, Mardi Gras is translated from the French as "Fat Tuesday," and refers to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It is connected to another tradition called "carnival," which celebrated the "taking away of meat." The last few days before Lent were seen as days when you ate up anything in the cupboards that couldn't be consumed during the penitential season.
The timing of carnival depends on local tradition. For example, in New Orleans, Mardi Gras begins on Epiphany, January 6, and runs through the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
In other places, such as Poland, the festivities begin on "Fat Thursday," the Thursday before Ash Wednesday.
In most parts of the world it is limited to just the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, meaning that the "season" lasts 24 hours.
Catholics have differing views on whether or not this should be something to take part in. The differences of opinion has to do with the reality that some have overindulged during this time of the year and take it as a license to sin.
To combat such a point of view, the Catholic Encyclopedia explains how both St. Philip Neri and St. Ignatius Loyola instituted a tradition of 40 hours of adoration before Ash Wednesday to counteract the abuses that occurred during carnival (the name for pre-Lenten festivities that comes from the Latin for "farewell to meat"):
Already before the year 1550 this, or some analogous exposition, had been established by St. Philip Neri for the Confraternity of the Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome; while St. Ignatius Loyola, at about the same period, seems to have lent much encouragement to the practice, of exposing the Blessed Sacrament during the carnival, as an act of expiation for the sins committed at that season.
At the same time, there is nothing inherently wrong with having a few donuts or special pastries before Ash Wednesday. In fact, as in times of old, this might be a good use of items that you will give up during Lent, and which can't be stored for 40 days.
A problem arises only if we take this as an opportunity to overfill ourselves or commit some sin before we give it up for Lent.
Mardi Gras remains a popular tradition in many parts of the world and is celebrated in different ways in nearly every country.
