And sorry Paul Cat, it does have pagan roots. I do not know of any Christian rite that includes the sacrifice of an ox.

Brother Matthew Augustine OP, get real!

As far as celebrating your blessing, we need to be doing this all the time. I dare say there will very little lent practiced by the mardi gras crowd.

I’m a practicing Catholic and I am against Mardi Gras. It is Satanic and hedonistic.

And of course nobody is defending the latter, which is why I said it was an easy target. Why should we make the worst people define an event?

If a person were to ever try and use all their eggs, sugar, and meat one day, the only possible means to do such a things is to throw a party and eat a little more than normal; in other words, have a feast or more specifically a festival. Festivals (or feasts) are a rich christian tradition. We have feasts of saints every day on the calendar. If you have a particular devotion to a saint on his or her feast day what better way to celebrate than to host a festival and perhaps encourage others to devote themselves to Christ through a particular saint. Two most common festivals for saints that sometimes turn into drunken debauchery are Saint Patrick’s Day and Saint Joseph’s Day.

But we should not poo-poo a holiday because of a small percentage of foolish people. There is certainly a way to celebrate and participate in a festival without losing one’s self and forgetting about God. Many many many families in Louisiana celebrate Mardi Gras in a way that is family friendly, safe, and fun and these families far out way the foolishness seen in the French Quarter.

Lastly celebrating something with food, drink, music, funny clothes, and watching really long processions (parades) fits nicely in the Catholic tradition.

I posted this last year about the holiday: http://aliveandyoung.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-orleans-fun-or-blatant-debauchery.html

I don’t see any issue in having a few drinks and eating a bit more then normal. However I would like to see the festival or “cause” of it to focus more on a religious celebration such as Candlemass. But that of course doesn’t happen. It’s a missed opportunity IMO.

Anthony of the Desert, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

We can’t be all rigor all the time. A Christianity that demands only suffering and asceticism (think of the Waldensians, Franciscan Spirituals and Jansenists) is Christianity for angels. Christianity for human beings has always balanced fasting with festivity. The fact that people use Marti Gras as an excuse to sin only shows that we, as a culture, don’t know how to be truly festive.

I have no problem with enjoying an especially good meal and a fine bottle of wine on the day before Lent starts, or if you plan on giving up chocolate or Starbucks over lent having an extra Starbucks or an extra candy bar today, or attending a “family friendly parade”. There is a big difference between that and going out and deliberately getting drunk as a skunk, throwing beads to girls so that they expose themselves and fornicating.

In doing the latter we as Catholics are living up to old Protestant prejudices – “Those Catholics they go out and sin, sin, sin, because tomorrow they go into that little box and some man will say everything is forgiven.” The sin of presumption is one of the worse we can commit.

The enjoyment of the good things God has given us is a way of giving glory to Him. “My cup runneth over…”

We also can thank God for good times as practice for thanking Him during bad times.

I have made comments on my blog that the great thing about the old Calender and liturgy were that we had three Sundays that would sort of prepared us for Lent. These preceded it. It was sort of a pre Lent. I always thought the feasting and Fun and then Ash Wednesday was always so abrubt.

However I find most MArdi Gras parades to be family friendly. THe parades in Metarie, In Kenner,. In Lafayette, In lake Charles, In Shreveport, In Houma, In Mamou are oftenvery fun.

When large groups of people come together there shall be “excess”.

However even the NEe Orleans parades are not too bad. Yeah if ones goes to the Quarter and Canal it is wild.

But going after Mass On Sunday and tailgaiting in the neutal Ground and watching the parades on St Charles was always a cherished memory to me. That is where the families often hung. THere was partying but it was done in the best tradition of it

Sure, take all the fun out of it. ;-)

On a more serious note, I figured it was more the cold weather that kept breasts shielded around here. Fashion dictates ended up proving me wrong a half dozen years ago. Marti Gra and St. Patrick’s Day for that matter may be celebrated in bars, but it isn’t really a community celebration. Depending on the area, you may have a special St. Patrick service. It’s kind of like Halloween. In so much as people participate, they do the secular celebration, even if parts are held in a Church.

BTW, I have nothing against bars in principle. I just don’t frequent them. That, and there are very few places with neighborhood bars anymore. It would be one thing to be with my neighbors and commune over a beer. It is another to go to a place with just a bunch of strangers and PAARRRRTAAAYYY!

“In this name shrovetide the religious idea is uppermost, and the same is true of the German Fastnacht (the eve of the fast). It is intelligible enough that before a long period of deprivations human nature should allow itself some exceptional licence in the way of frolic and good cheer. No appeal to vague and often inconsistent traces of earlier pagan customs seems needed to explain the general observance of a carnival celebration.”

I think Mardi Gras, observed correctly, helps humans to practice mortification and penance easier than if we were just thrown into it. It is human nature to eat more and be merry before you enter a period where fasting and mortification are frequent and fun things and pleasantries are not.

So what does Mardis Gras do in terms of our spiritual and physical preparation to receive God? I think it allows us to grow closer to God because we’ve already satisfied our passions and desires (in a non-sinful manner) for things of this world.

I’m not advocating getting drunk, being promiscuous, glutony, sloth, lust, or anything like that, but merely treating Mardis Gras as a psuedo feast day.

It is a healthy desire to want to indulge (not over-indulge) in something before it leaves you. You want one more hug before your loved one ships off to Iraq…You want to drive your old car one last time before you sell it…you want to eat sugar and eggs before you give them up for Lent. You see my point?

I agree that Mardis Gras has become (or perhaps has remained) an incredibly sinful occassion, but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad. The Catholic Church has a long tradition of taking pagan holidays and practices and Christianizing them…perhaps we haven’t come full circle with Mardis Gras like we have Christmas.

How does Mardi Gras aid our spiritual and physical preparation to receive God?