Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Fat Tuesday
We were surprised to receive several different invitations to Mardi Gras parties this year, our first year at our Catholic Church. I took Spanish in high school, not French, so I didn't even realize that "Mardi Gras" means "Fat Tuesday" in French. I asked our priest last night whether Mardi Gras is a Catholic thing & he said it was more of a French thing. But here's an article: "The Catholic Roots of Mardi Gras" that discusses the linkage. I don't recall Mardi Gras ever being dicussed or enjoyed in my Methodist days, while here, our Catholic women's group is hosting a Mardi Gras party right at the church.
And since we're talking foreign languages, notice "Carnival" is from the Latin "carne vale" which means, "farewell to the flesh." I read somewhere, yesterday, that the season of Lent is approximately one tenth of a year (40 days out of 365 days long)... so the abstinence and self-denial, the fasting and the almsgiving, the prayers and the focus on the season is really a tithing of our year, given up for God. To start that tithing with a big, self-indulgent party goes against my Methodist grain, but I'm willing to learn.
And since we're talking foreign languages, notice "Carnival" is from the Latin "carne vale" which means, "farewell to the flesh." I read somewhere, yesterday, that the season of Lent is approximately one tenth of a year (40 days out of 365 days long)... so the abstinence and self-denial, the fasting and the almsgiving, the prayers and the focus on the season is really a tithing of our year, given up for God. To start that tithing with a big, self-indulgent party goes against my Methodist grain, but I'm willing to learn.
