Mardi Gras, Carnival: party before Lent (video)

Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; AP; TIME.com; MardiGras.com

(TIME Feb. 28, 2017) Crowds gather to celebrate Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday," New Orleans

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Quick, more beads for Shania Twain!

(WQ) Today is Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") before Wednesday as "Lent" begins for the majority of people on the planet, who are nominal Catholics due to the Holy Roman Empire's lingering success from Mithra Headquarters at Vatican, Inc. Italy is a relatively new country, formed in 1861.

Before that, it was the Papal States when the Pope was a "god-king," ruling spiritual and secular matters, a form of governance followed by Tibetan Buddhists at the seat of power of their former Himalayan empire run from Potala Palace with a Dalai Lama and other rival lamas just like the papal system in what became Italy. It's clear these were regents for a sky "king" or "kings" who came, set up shop, and promised to return.

Faraway Ladakh, India/Tibet, is not so different than rugged Israel but higher (James Tissot)

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I'm supposed to be the Messiah, Sid. - Go for it.

The Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhists are still waiting for Maitreya ("Messiah") the Future Buddha to "come again," not as Shakyamuni Buddha who has attained nirvana and completely transcended rebirth, but of a recurring lama or rimpoche who comes again and again to guide his people, the Tibetans.

Could these two systems possibly have arisen independently? No, of course not.

If you want a Second Coming, you'll get it.

Jews from Israel traveled a path of commerce along between ancient Palestine and Ladakh (now in Himalayan Buddhist India, formerly a part of Greater Tibet, where Jesus traveled to study at Hemis Gompa, a Buddhist monastery, according to Nicolas Notovitch, Holger Kersten (our favorite), Swami Abedananda (who retraced and confirmed Notovitch's discovery), and many other scholars, researchers, and authors.

It's also Carnival in Brazil but not yet in the Netherlands and Pancake Day somewhere in Europe.

(MardiGras.com) Watch Rex, King of Mardi Gras and Carnival, roll down St. Charles Avenue.

"One time of year people can act like fools"

Float riders toss beads during Krewe of Bacchus Mardi Gras parade, New Orleans, 2-26-17.

 
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) - The streets of New Orleans are filled with costumed revelers, dazzling floats featuring kings and queens, and people of all ages screaming [and flashing breasts] for trinkets and beads. Lots of beads. Tuesday marks the culmination of the Carnival season, which started January 6.

It may be Mardi Gras, but don't DUI.

Mardi Gras is "the one time of year people can act like fools and get away with it," said one reveler [forgetting that Halloween and New Year's Eve are massive events], Craig Channell. Channell, his wife, Darlene Channell, and friend Dian Walsh were visiting from Tampa, Florida.

Host Bill Tucker pulled a wagon holding a big cooler and four roll-up chairs. The group was among 30 or so people who took the 7:00 am ferry Tuesday to Canal Street. The crowd included people in tutus and a half-dozen pirates.

 

Let loose, be who you want to be (AP).

The biggest parades take place along the St. Charles Avenue parade route, where the Krewe of Zulu kicked off the morning's parades and then was followed by the Krewe of Rex. Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Club strutted from the famed Commander's Palace restaurant to the French Quarter, tossing beads and doubloons to recordings of his music.

This one year, a guy drove into the crowd.

Fountain, a clarinetist, died in August of last year, but the club members -- decked out from hat to shoes in nearly fluorescent spring green -- were carrying on the tradition.

 

The sidewalk along St. Charles Avenue near Canal Street barely had room for pedestrians. People were sitting two rows of chairs deep while families had set up ladders with seats on top for their children to sit on and catch throws. More