Today goes by many names:  Mardi Gras, Carnival, Shrove Tuesday.  All these names tell you a little about how it to celebrate — and why.

Today is the last day before the beginning of Lent, a six week season of prayer, fasting, penance, and preparation for Easter.  In the past (an in some traditions and places even today), this season was celebrated with very strict limits on the food that can be eaten.  No meat and limited fat and dairy were the norm.  So Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) was the day that you cooked all sorts of rich foods and pastries to use up your stores of fat.  And Carnival literally means "Farewell to Meat" — carne -vale — the last day you can eat meat.

Shrove Tuesday was the day when folks would confess their sins and be shriven before beginning the season of Lenten penance.

While these traditions had deep religious meanings, they also made really good sense.  Strictly limiting food intake helped stretch food stores through the last weeks of winter.  Since most animals give birth in the early spring, the limits on milk and meat meant that nursing animals had plenty of milk for their babies and that hunting was limited to protect mothers and their young. 

Mardi Gras is more than beads and floats.  Understanding the origins may make your celebration as rich as your food!