So ... how do we decide on Mardi Gras, again?
If it weren’t for New Orleans we might not even notice it. My beautiful wife and I were on a cruise ship once when Mardi Gras snuck up on us unexpectedly. Wow! Somebody knew! The atrium was a continuing blast of music, color, masks, and beads beads beads!
Mardi Gras: Rowdy irreverent fun ... but when is it?
To find out when Mardi Gras is, we have to determine when Easter is, because Mardi Gras is a feast and fun day before the fasting and contemplative period of Lent before Easter.
A 9-yearold knows that Christmas is Dec. 25, but probably doesn’t know (or care) that Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox when day and night are equal.
Actually, it’s even more complicated. It was originally the equinox, but the church decided on March 21 as a consistent approximation, because the equinox varies slightly by year and by location, and was originally difficult to measure.
I understand the equinox, and I know it has nothing to do with moon phases. And as a kid, I had no idea what either of these had to do with Easter.
As I understand it now. “Easter” is derived from Oestre, a fertility goddess. And apparently those ubiquitous Easter eggs, and the incongruous bunny, are similarly fertility symbols and emblematic of rebirth.
The season was observed long before Christianity, and the Catholic Church adopted (and adapted) it to the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection. So despite the obvious importance of the actual events of the Easter season, the observance dates seem somewhat arbitrary, shrouded in astronomical calculations, ancient fertility rites, old goddesses and moon phases.
Now the fun part: Mardi Gras is, of course, simply French for “Fat Tuesday,” when observers gorge on rich foods before Lenten fasting, and celebrate before the contemplation and decorum of Lent.
Now that we know when Easter is, we just have to back up Lent’s 47 days (40 days plus seven Sundays
that are already fasting days) to find a Tuesday when we can gorge ourselves and act stupid.
So the date varies widely, almost a month. If it weren’t for New Orleans we might not even notice it. My beautiful wife and I were on a cruise ship once when Mardi Gras snuck up on us unexpectedly. Wow! Somebody knew! The atrium was a continuing blast of music, color, masks, and beads beads beads!
The current practice, both of the feasting before and the fasting during Lent, is a culmination of a long history dating hack to the fourth century. We humans may ignore the fasting rules of Lent itself, and the “giving up something” part, but we never skimp on celebrations. It’s irreverent in a fun way without being offensive, like the Misrule of Christmas (you can look that one up). Feasting and celebrating before Lent at least recognizes that there is a Lent, and a reason.
So as to not be taken unaware, I calculated. This year Mardi Gras is Feb. 25 and we’re ready! Got our beads, courtesy of Carnival. (And I promise a contemplative Lent starting the 26th.) Beavercreek writer David Shumway is a regular contributor.