King cake, plastic beads, masks, and parades. Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras was not on my radar at all before this year. This fall I went to New Orleans to visit a close friend at Loyola University. Mardi Gras is the center point of New Orleans tourism and you don't have to search far to find some beads and a mask and get in on the fun...even in November months prior to their actual carnival celebrations. In fact, I was handed some before I even got to baggage claim at the airport. And despite its risque associations there are some very interesting things to know about Mardi Gras and the day following, Ash Wednesday.
The week or weeks before Mardi Gras in primarily Catholic areas (best known: New Orleans and Rio de Jainaro) is a celebration known as Carnival. The root of the word carival is basically a "farewell to meat" since Mardi Gras is the day before the start of Lent. 40 days of fasting and some form of self deprivation...preparation for the sacrifice of Christ on Good Friday.
Preparation.
Fat Tuesday is also sometimes known as Shrove Tuesday which is about a day of confession. A day of saying goodbye to all the luxuries our world throws at us and the comforts of the flesh and a day of confession...a day about seeing the need for a sacrifice.
And like every celebration in our world the meaning is lost in glitter... or the day passes unnoticed at all.
We lack the preparation. We have missed some of the high holy days that our rich heritage of faith passes down. And yes, perhaps the meaning isn't what it used to be. But can't it be reclaimed?
40 days of seeing our sinfulness and remembering the Passover Lamb has made a way for us into the Holy of Holies. 40 days of forward thinking, that "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
We are saved by grace through faith. Nothing we do should be about earning His love or His favour. But we can remember His love and His favour. His sacrifice.
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