Eat, Drink, & Be Merry. . .

Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of Carnival. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from "to shrive," or hear confessions), Pancake Tuesday and fetter Dienstag. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins.

Mardi Gras, has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.


Since I intend to be better at observing lenten sacrifices and tradition this year, why not start with the hedonism of fat tuesday. Since I cannot get to the carribean or N'awlins, maybe I will hunt down a tradition foodstuff (I always used to make either Jumbalaya or the richest thing I could think of). While I have never had a "Pancake Tuesday", I have doen the Polish Paczki thing before. There seem to be other traditions, though.



In Sweden the day before Ash Wednesday is known as fettisdagen ("Fat Tuesday") in Swedish. The day is marked by eating a traditional pastry, called semla, filled with marzipan and whipped cream. Originally, the pastry was only eaten on this day, served with hot milk, but eventually it became tradition to eat it on every Tuesday leading up to Easter.

In Iceland the day is known as "Sprengidagur" (Bursting day) and is marked with the eating of salt meat and peas.

In Estonia (Vastlapäev) and Finland (Laskiainen), this day is associated with hopes for the coming year. On this day, families go sledding and eat split pea and ham soup.




Those all sound good, and I do have a hankering for Pea Soup. I suppose I will find something (which I may tell you more about tomorrow.

TomC