Mardi Gras pre-Lent party: Fat Tuesday

Not Rosary beads! That's tomorrow. Today we want cheap shiny plastic beads. Throw 'em!

Rio Carnival LIVE | Spectacular Samba shows, Rio De Janeiro Carnival 2025 Parade | Brasil | N18G

Mardi Gras, Carnival, Ash Wednesday, Lent

Show you what for beads? - No, I want to give you a Rosary. Show me where you'd wear it.

Ash Wednesday tika makes one better: Be good.

Mardi Gras (lit. "Fat Tuesday" or Pancake Day) is a Christian holiday, celebrated mainly by the Catholic variety. It is a popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan European spring fertility rites.

• Fertility rites as rites of passage
• Catholic Rosary or Hindu Mala prayer beads?
• Sacred vibhuti or forehead trash ash?

Better beads on Mardi Gras for a better world

Also known as Carnival like the cruise line, Carnaval in Brazil, and Karneval in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, it’s celebrated in many countries around the world — mainly those with large Roman Catholic populations — on the day before the religious fasting season of Lent begins.

Brazil (Rio), Italy (Venice), and North America (New Orleans) play host to some of the holiday’s most famous public festivities, drawing tens of thousands of tourists and revelers every year.

LIVE: Mardi Gras 2025 - parades, beads, New Orleans festivities!

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  Take ashes seriously like a sadhu

  Holy ash (bhasma, vibhuti) ash is the sign that adorns the forehead of Hindus (and Catholics at the start of Lent). Used by Shaivites and the others used to mean God appearing as a supreme flame, now reduced to a cross or X. Naturally, this holy symbol was appropriated by the religion of "universalism" (catholic in its original meaning) for world conquest, which went around the planet taking all manner of symbols and customs, depositing them in Rome, putting them on display in the Vatican as a sign of worldwide conquest, and then celebrating them and imposing them on others like patriarchal and strictly hierarchal religion. India is also the source of the Holy Rosary (rudraksha), the 108 or 54 wooden bead mala used by meditators doing japa (repetition of a God's name, or mantra recitation, or a prayer to steady the mind). templesinindiainfo.com

When is Mardi Gras?

LIVE: Parades in New Orleans ahead of Mardi Gras mean wild times in the streets for good Catholics

Cremation pyre ashes to ashes, dust to dust

Mardi Gras is traditionally celebrated on “Fat Tuesday,” the Tuesday before holy Ash Wednesday (the day Catholics get tilakas (forehead ashes) like good Hindus, and the start of Lent, when we fast and get tempted by Satan like Saint Issa (Jesus) did that time in the desert. So if we fast and behave well, the Devil will come to tempt us like he did in the Judean desert.

Lent is for penance-tapas to purify oneself

In many areas, however, Mardi Gras has evolved into a week-long festival of excess and debauchery. Mardi Gras 2025 will fall on Tuesday.

That's March 4th this year, which is Gina Marie's birthday, when she marches fourth along with everyone else because she didn't march first, second, third, or so on.

Mardi Gras: Indulge before sacrifice - blended French traditions to find Rex

What is Mardi Gras?

Father, I have sinned. - Come confess to me.

Mardi Gras is a tradition that dates back thousands of years to pagan celebrations of spring and fertility, including the raucous Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia.

When missionary Christianity arrived in Rome, religious leaders decided to appropriate and co-op these popular local pagan traditions into their new imperial faith, an easier task than trying to abolish them altogether.

• If the authorities tried that, they would have to deal with religious revolts, Bacchanalian backlashes, violent uprisings, and widespread scofflaw celebrations alongside destruction of churches as seen in Norwegian black metal vandalism. It would be like trying to put an end to American tailgate parties and post-game riots and football hooliganism in the U.S.

I'll be good for Lent (La Penitente)

As a result, the excess and debauchery of the Mardi Gras season became a prelude to Lent, the 40 days of fasting and penance (atonement for sin) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.

Along with Christianity, Mardi Gras spread from Rome to other European countries, including France, Germany, Spain, and England. More

• Associated Press (video), March 3, 2025; History.com edited by recovering Catholics who became Buddhists at Wisdom Quarterly

Fat Thursday: preparing for Lent

The Polish way of praise with fat and flour, fried and coated with sugar to not lose weight

Fat Thursday in Poland is a Catholic celebration of Lent-fasting by fattening up first to be closer to G

Catholics get a Hindu tika for Ash Wednesday

Fat Thursday (French Jeudi Gras, not to be confused with next week's Maundy Thursday, ahead of Mardi Gras) on the Catholic Calendar takes place on the Thursday ahead of Ash (Tilaka) Wednesday (the official start of Lent) in February, right before the 40-day period of Lent. That’s February 27 this year.

• There's a Buddhist "Lent," too, called Vas

And yes, it’s exactly what readers may be thinking — a time to indulge. Clear the kitchen and pantry in preparation for FASTING. That’s what Lent is all about, abnegation, austerity, asceticism as watered down as can be and still called a sacrifice and abstention.

• 

  I'm going to kill this Lamb (of God) and eat him

  Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is coming, the time of year all Catholics become ducks and stuff themselves (Foie Gras) until, loving the Lamb of God, they demand Veal (made of baby Cow) and then go back to eating baby Lambs, chopped

What is Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)? The REAL history and tradition explained, New Orleans and Rio

As the lean season of Lent draws near, food becomes central to many peoples’ thoughts. There’s nothing like a fast (intentional cleansing starvation) to get us thinking about food, particularly those forbidden treats loaded with calorific ickiness.

If donuts were the first thing that came to mind, then that mind is on the right track because this holiday, originating in Catholic Poland, is about stuffing our faces with Polish donuts, known as pączki, and a few other exotically named sweet treats. Pancakes come to mind.

Every Fatso knows calories don't count today.

History of Fat Thursday

Though the exact origin of how this holiday came to be founded is unknown [though the eating up of all the forbidden foodstuffs of the next forty days seems like a pretty convincing explanation], the Polish tradition of consuming donuts is very much known. It dates as far back as the 1500s.

On the religious side of things, Fat Thursday is the last hurrah before the fasting period of Lent, wherein devout Catholics give up many indulgences in the 40 days leading up to Easter, the pagan Day of Rebirth (Resurrection and fertility), when the world springs back to green life after winter.

Roman Catholicism is as far from Christ's message as Protestantism

The Lost Teachings of Jesus Christ the Church doesn’t want us to know

Traditionally, Catholics abstain from meat and alcohol during this period, as the idea is to give up things one is addicted to, loves, abuses, can’t give up even though one knows one should, in order to focus on the meaning of Easter.

Fat Thursday is known as Tłusty Czwartek in Poland. For those who doubt, the "fat" part of the name refers to the fried sugar crust of different types of pączki (pronounced \poonch-key\ or \pots-ski\) consumed by Poles all over the European country.

The Pope is dying, and all we're worried about is will he get his Angel Wings? We'll get ours.

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Is that where the US jelly doughnut comes from?

The most traditional form of pączki is a fluffy donut filled with rosehip jam and dusted with powdered white sugar that looks like cocaine and the contents of a bloody nose on toast.

However, there are many variations now when it comes to fillings. Essentially, this day serves a dual purpose, as it allows Poles to indulge guilt-free in their favorite confectionery, while also carrying a religious meaning.

Celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans | National Geographic instead of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Rio Carnaval: Fat Tuesday in Brazil: Carnival in Rio (Portuguese Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro) is a festival held every year before Lent that is considered the biggest (and probably the sexiest and most decadent) celebration of Carnival in the world, with two million people per day on the streets, first celebrated in 1723 (wiki).

Guilty sexy Catholics party for Rio Carnival

Some even refer to the day as International Polish Donut Day, and the average Pole will eat two or three today, which translates to about 1,050 empty calories (if anyone is counting, though we’re not)!

If the thought of consuming donuts scares an eater (because of the gluten, fried oil, toxic white sugar, strange fillings, rancidity and carcinogenic acrylamides from heat exposure), the recommendation is to eat just one gluten-free one with a better sweetener (agave, coconut blossom powder, erythritol, monk fruit, birch xylitol, or herbal stevia, because not eating a donut on this day means bad luck for the rest of the year, according to fat Polish tradition.

Another traditional Polish dessert that is extremely popular on this day is faworki, in some places, also known as Angel Wings. Faworki are thin gluten dough ribbons, fried until crispy and sprinkled with powdered white sugar. More

• National Day Today, 2/27/25; Recovering Catholic Madison, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Fat Tuesday: Removing meat for Carnival/Lent

MSN.com; Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Los Angeles has a pioneering cook in Rahel, who offers gluten-free vegan Ethiopian delicacies.

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I pray as I begin then I let go as my meditation.

Most Americans think Mardi Gras is a party, but it's actually a holy day during Holy Week, and its purpose is to put the brakes on meat eating. Three of the world's four largest religions know it's bad -- for health and for morals -- but that attitude has been thrown out over time. Buddhism (including the one billion uncounted Buddhists in communist China) and Hinduism remember the harm, whereas Christian/Catholicism and Islam seem to have forgotten. But Lent is the reminder. Only, now, most of us ignore it. Ethiopian Christians remember, as do monastics and people attempting to purify themselves by prayer -- not the common petitionary kind so much as other more effective forms (such as The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy rediscovered by Gregg Braden).

• Find vegan and vegetarian food outlets
• Carnival or Shrovetide is "removing meat"
• Fasting and abstinence in Ethiopian Orthodox
• What will there be to eat? Ethiopian cuisine

I didn't mean to kill animals. I'm taking it back.

Glittering green beads descend from balconies, costumed and topless crowds line parade routes, and jazz music fills the air — yep, you guessed it: Mardi Gras is here!

Otherwise known as "Fat Tuesday," this celebration draws scores of people to New Orleans, USA, every year for one big party.

Even if one can't make it to The Big Easy, one can join the festivities by dressing up in dazzling Carnival costumes, decorating the home in purple, green, and gold, or preparing a spread of traditional Mardi Gras food.

• Fasting days to abstain from meat (slaughtered flesh)

Thank you, soldier. We all want to live longer.

Just the flavors of the Carnival season are enough to keep many coming back for more: boils and étouffée, powdered beignets and po'boy sandwiches, and king cakes with tiny baby figurines hidden inside -- all largely unhealthy (albeit beloved) garbage.

And if the latter seems like an odd tradition, there's plenty more where that came from! The history of Mardi Gras and its customs is a much bigger story than anyone thinks.

• Carnival means "remove meat" (Latin carnevale), and it's part of the tradition of abstaining from animal flesh for 40 days. It's been practiced in Christian Ethiopia for millennia. The Roman Empire was no different, except in lustily building up to the fasting from flesh part. Today, Fat Tuesday, is when one eats up all the things (usually in pancake form) one does not want in the kitchen for the next 40 days.

What about fish? No way! That's an animal

For example, did you know why it always falls on the Tuesday before the start of Lent? Or why exactly it's called Fat Tuesday? To answer these questions and more, read ahead for the history of Mardi Gras and why it's celebrated. More: msn.com

• PETA.org to go vegan
• Vegan Made Easy: A healthy plant-based lifestyle (vegan.com)

Why women flash breasts at Mardi Gras

Larissa Rzemienski (YourTango, 2/20/17); Ananda, Jen B., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

.

The truth about why women show their boobs at Mardi Gras

Throw beads, or don't look!

What comes to mind when thinking of Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday")? For some, it’s the traditional fare -- extravagant parade floats, exquisite masks, shiny beads. For most, it's women flashing their boobs, wild parties, and the craziness that is Bourbon Street.

Mardi Gras is a historical celebration that dates back thousands of years and was intended to be a Holy Week hedonistic celebration living it up on the day before 40 days of Lent (abstaining, sacrificing, giving up, letting go, and breaking bad habits).

Come, all ye sinners. Feel shame! Offend not the Lord. Pyre ashes, get your pyre ashes.

The male of the species, living in big cities, has no shame. Monkey see, money do (Seinfeld).

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It's a time to fatten up before the now largely symbolic fasting. But the hedonism portrayed by the media is completely separate from the real purpose of the celebration.

Breast flashing is not considered to be a “real” tradition of Mardi Gras, except for mammals with cameras, but rather a phenomenon that surrounds the spring break mentality of the young people that hang out on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

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The festive parades throughout New Orleans and the South remain a more sacred old school religious celebration frequented by locals, while the wild celebrations occur only on Bourbon Street with thousands of tourists.

Why?

"Why?" is an interesting question. Have you considered the opposite question: "Why not?"?

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So why exchange beads for exposing body parts intended only for infants? Why DO women flash their breasts at Mardi Gras?

The act of bearing one’s breasts at Mardi Gras dates back to the 1970s, but it drastically increased from 1987 to 1991. Many women attribute the flashing of their breasts to the mass consumption of alcohol [and other intoxicants].

They also report pleasure from violating the expected norms of society as a whole. One study found that 68 percent of men and 63 percent of women had at least 5 or 6 drinks per sitting while at Mardi Gras festivities.

About one-quarter of the men reported having at least 16 drinks per sitting. Whoa.

• Men love THESE kinds of boobs the most, says science
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• Are they "attention wh**es"?
• Is it "monkey see, monkey do"?
• Is it low self-esteem needing a quick boost?
• Might it be that "we got caught up in the excitement"?
• "You and me, Baby, ain't nothing but mammals, so let's..." ("The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang)

Casual sex

I'm cutting loose because it's Spring Break!!

The study also reported that 42 percent of men expect to have sex with somebody they meet at Mardi Gras. A third (33%) of all attendees surveyed did, in fact, have sex with someone that they had met at the festivities, and about 50% said at least a few of their friends did, too.

Perhaps we could compare the wild times at Mardi Gras to the activities that take place in Las Vegas. Clearly, there are some similarities between the two.

What happens on Bourbon St. does not necessarily stay on Bourbon St.

Max, we found them, we found them!

In actuality, the craziness is often photographed and videotaped. This can come back to haunt people. It’s widely known that media outlets reserve Bourbon Street balconies at least five years in advance to get the best shots.

One female flasher found out that video footage of her flashing her breasts showed up on a capitalist Girls Gone Wild video. No one asked her to sign a release.

She filed a court case after discovering that her images were on the cover of the DVD and X-rated footage of her within the video.

I love kids, not women's breasts.

Breast flashing and wild behaviors could also be attributed to the concept of mob mentality. With so little inhibition and such large crowds, a single person -- egged on by friends, bead throwers, and alcohol -- could feel her behavior is normal, that she won't necessarily be picked out of a crowd.

One can feel anonymous among a large half-naked crowd of strangers and, thus, be more prone to show the goods.

Some fall into the tourist trap

Another interesting fact is that many of the revelers are out of towners. Many of the partygoers tell interviewers that they are attending Mardi Gras to “escape” their daily lives.

They have the daily stresses of work or school and feel like they need to let off some steam by going to Mardi Gras and completely letting go of their inhibitions. It's a dopamine boost. More

Mardi Gras 2020 live in New Orleans (video)

4WWLTV streamed live Monday, Feb. 25, 2020; Washington Post; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Mardi Gras 2020 in New Orleans: Parades, WWLTV live coverage

I don't eat meat during Lent. Flesh is bad.

Revelers dressed in costumes, exposing their breasts, and reaching for beads thrown from floats to entice them take to the streets on "Fat Tuesday" (mardi gras) in the New Orleans area when Carnival (Brazilian Carnaval, or "flesh festival," the Christian/Catholic carnal lust celebration of popular hedonism Roman-style) season reaches its climax.

Who was the historical Jesus of Nazareth?

Carnival season begins on Jan. 6 and ends on Fat Tuesday after weeks of balls, parades, and merriment. That solemn end is known as Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of imperial Roman Lent, a time of fasting. This does not mean no eating but no meat-eating: vegetarianism (now most weakly defined as non-red-meat-eating just on Fridays) used to mean a time of total vegetarianism and abstention from all other sin (or at least one sin) for 40 days in commemoration of the role model of the Christian world religion.

Going without flesh

Acceptable lust? No meat but sexual food images

Universal vegetarianism: The absence of "meat" (carne) is actually key to this Christian festival. The Carnival of Brazil (Portuguese Carnaval do Brasil) is an annual Brazilian festival held between the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday and Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter.

During Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival," from carnelevare, "to remove (literally, raise) meat."

Satirical to silly, US celebrates Mardi Gras

Associated Press, March 1, 2019; Crystal Q., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

From satirical to silly, walking clubs spice up Mardi Gras

For Lent this year I'm giving up Mardi Gras.

NEW ORLEANS Mississippi - A floppy-eared pooch wearing a red crustacean costume rides in a wagon decorated like a shrimp boat, followed by another "boat" wagon occupied by a pug in a sailor hat.

Behind them, on a leash, strolls a white Maltese in a Wonder Woman costume alongside canines in fluffy purple, green, and gold tutus.

Made from video, a woman dressed as a mermaid pulls a wagon containing an inflatable seashell full of beads in the Krewe of Cork parade in New Orleans.

New Orleans now boasts some 50 walking Carnival clubs that parade throughout the Mardi Gras season. That's the most ever in the city's long Carnival history, making Mardi Gras more colorful and diverse than ever before.

American Hardcore: A Tribal History

The dog-centered Krewe of Barkus is one of 50 walking Carnival clubs in New Orleans that parade throughout the Mardi Gras season, ranging from satirical and political to the cute and risqué.

It's the most walking clubs in the city's long Carnival history, making the weekslong celebration more colorful and diverse than ever, says Mardi Gras historian Arthur Hardy, who publishes an annual guide with historical facts about Carnival, as well as parade schedules and route maps.

"It's just amazing how many different ways there are to express yourself at Mardi Gras," Hardy said. And the walking clubs have added "a new level of inclusion and diversity and participation that we have not seen before."

Among the favorite walking parades drawing thousands of spectators yearly are the Star Wars-themed Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus, the satirical and sometimes downright raunchy adult-themed Krewe du Vieux, and Barkus. More

Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") Meditation, Time...

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Dan Harris, Geoffrey Jowett (coasttocoastam.com); AP.org; Wiki

(NPR) Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics offers practical advice for stressed-out cynics Trying to reduce anxiety and stress in 2018? If meditation makes you want to throw something, ABC News Anchor Dan Harris offers some advice in his new book.

(Terry Gross/NPR) Can Buddhist practices help us overcome the biological pull of dissatisfaction? Science journalist and author Robert Wright says that Buddhist enlightenment might help counteract our natural tendency towards unhappiness. His new book is Why Buddhism is True.

 

Dan Harris is a correspondent for ABC News and the co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America. He is on Coast to Coast tonight (Feb. 13, 2018) to talk about what he learned on his cross-country trip on a rock-star tour bus: He was helping average people maximize their potential using what science is finding:

Dashama Konah sits on the beach in Hawaii.

MEDITATION can lower blood pressure, relieve depression and anxiety, and rewire key parts of the brain.

Intuitive Geoffrey Jowett is also on the show helping others on their journey to enlightenment by recognizing that each of us is part of "GOD" -- unlike what the Buddha taught -- and that our sole purpose in life is not to become enlightened and free ourselves and others from suffering but to perpetuate "divine love." Jowett teaches how to develop the ability to communicate with departed loved ones and spirit guides. More + AUDIO

• BOOKS: 10% Happier
• Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
• Lasting Impressions: A Medium’s Messages from Spirit
• Hope for Parents Who Have Lost Children
• The Power of I Am: Aligning the Chakras of Consciousness

A real TIME TRAVELER?

 

Happy Black History Month - love, God

A self-proclaimed time traveler hailing from the year 2030 purportedly took a lie detector test to prove to skeptics that he is telling the truth.

 

Dubbed "Noah," the young man made headlines late last year when he "emerged from hiding" to share his fantastic story of journeying from the not-too-distant future back to our present day.

Angelic (deva) black babies of God

As one can imagine, his tale was met with considerable skepticism, leading to Noah making yet another video where he allegedly submits to a polygraph test.

 

However, much like his account of traveling through time, the update is also rather dubious since the video conveniently does not show the device which is supposedly testing him....is it confirmation that the young man really is from the future or a not-so-clever hoax?

• Source: The Mirror
• Good Christians are vegetarian (at least for Lent)
  

Today is Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday

If one is Catholic (or many types of Western Christian), particularly French or French-colonial Catholic, today (Mardi Gras) and tomorrow (Ash Wednesday/Valentine's Day) are a big deal. South America (think Brazil) and the U.S. state of Louisiana really know how to party...and how to experience penitent guilt afterward.*

Costumes, beads, and music: Mardi Gras

Ash Wednesday? Ash everyday, tilaka (forehead mark) applied at Anu's wedding (A. Nijda)

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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - Families camped out from early morning to catch beads and stuffed animals thrown from float riders. Revelers took to the streets in elaborate or funny costumes evoking Marie Antoinette, Pres. Donny Trump and other glamorized "vampires" [parasitic demons]. Amused bystanders took in the chaotic scene and annual American ritual from lawn chairs. More

Hindu custom appropriated by Catholicism

*ASH WEDNESDAY
This is a fasting (Christian vegetarian) day, the first day of Lent in Western Christianity.

It occurs 46 days (40 fasting days with six non-fasting Sundays) before Easter (the Dionysian worship of the fertility Goddess Ēostre and  searching for mushrooms/rabbit "eggs" all over the ground).

It falls as early as Feb. 4 and as late as March 10. Ash Wednesday is observed by many Western Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and some Baptists.
 

Why? According to the canonical Christian gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus Christ (the Bodhisattva Issa) spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by his enemy Satan/Mara. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter. More

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