Mardi Gras revelry ends, makes way for Lenten reverence
Staff Reports

Mardi Gras, French for "Fat Tuesday," is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Da.y. " It is the final day of Carnival, a celebration that is held just before the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent.

Shrove Tuesday is the term used in the English-speaking countries to refer to the day after Collop Monday and before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent , the time of preparation for Easter.

The nickname, Pancake Day, evolved from the custom of eating pancakes on this day, to use the last of the fat and sugar stores before the Lenten tradition of sacrifice. In other parts of the world - - for example, in historically-Catholic and French-speaking parts of the United States and elsewhere -- this day is called Mardi Gras, and in areas with large Polish-immigrant populations like Chicago and Detroit, it is known as Paczki Day.

The 40 days of traditional Lent form a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs could be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, sugar and flour are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes were therefore the perfect way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself. The revelry and indulgence of Mardi Gras gave way to the reverence of preparation for Easter.

Pensacola, Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach are not the only southern cities which host a Mardi Gras celebration, and cities as far north as Detroit celebrate the holiday as well. Catholic settlers there were French, but the Fat Tuesday celebrations of modern times in Detroit stem from more the recent influence of the Polish Paczki Day. Locals flock to the local bakeries of Hamtramck to enjoy the large round Paczki doughnuts filled with raspberry, prune or vanilla cream. The colder climate of Michigan does not lend itself to a Carnival type celebration, but they enjoy their indoor revelry.

The cities world-wide most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Venice, Salvador da Bahia, and Mazatlán. The carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, and in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mobile, Alabama was actually the birthplace of Mardi Gras on American soil. As the first capital of French Louisiana, it has the longest tradition of observing Mardi Gras in America, with celebrations dating back to 1703. In 1704, Mobile began the annual masked ball, Masque De La Mobile, and in 1711, Mobile began the first parades.

In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to a new town founded 1718 called "Nouvelle Orleans," or New Orleans and the tradition begun in Mobile was expanded. Nearly 125 years after Mobile's first parade of 1711, a krewe from Mobile, the Cowbellion de Rakin' Society, began the first known parades in New Orleans in 1835. Though the American Civil War halted the celebrations, parades were later revived in Mobile in 1866.

Mardi Gras celebrations have spread throughout the nation and globe, and many revelers do not know the traditional or religious significance of the event.