Texas Now Magazine February 2014 | Page 7

di Gras activities, and were, like today,
quite popular with the people.
So popular, in fact, that when Christianity arrived in Rome, leaders decided
it would be more prudent to incorporate such rituals into the new faith
than to forbid them altogether. “If you
can’t beat them, join them.” This gave
a Christian slant to the ancient custom
and Carnival became a time of merriment, excess, and lasciviousness which
preceded Lent. The days involved lavish
feasts, wearing masks and costumes,
revelry, carousing, and debauchery - all
pleasures were allowable.

Photo© Jim Zuckerman/Corbis

And then came Lent, the days between

Photo © Guenter Rossenbach/Corbis

ica. However, although it was Portugal that settled Brazil and from which the tradition spread
to the American continent, the celebrations
themselves predate colonial days by thousands
of years.
History teaches that Mardi Gras has its roots in
pagan celebrations honoring the end of winter,
the arrival of spring, the planting season, and
fertility. The ancient Romans observed festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia, the pastoral
God associated with Faunus or the Satyr. These
were raucous, circus-like celebrations, in some
respects quite similar to some of today’s Mar-

Ash Wednesday and Easter, 40 days. Fasting
not feasting. Penance not parties. Prayer not
pleasure. Remorse not revelry. No meat, no
eggs, no cheese, no kidding! Only fish to eat.
Not surprisingly, the Tuesday before Ash
Wednesday came to be known as Fat Tuesday
or Mardi Gras.The name Carnival, the other
common name for the pre-Lent festival, may
have evolved from the Medieval Latin word,
carnelevarium, meaning to withdraw, eliminate, or take away meat.
From Rome the celebration spread throughout

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Europe and in 1699 Mardi Gras was brought to
the United States by the French explorer Sieur
d’Iberville. The festival had been a major holiday in France since the Middle Ages. When
d’Iberville landed just south of what would become New Orleans to lead an expedition along
the Mississippi River, they held a celebration
and named the spot Point du Mardi Gras.