In the old days there was an underlying reason for Carnival (or Carne Vale - farewell to meat - in the original Latin), followed by the Lenten fast. It was hard to store enough feed and fodder to keep livestock alive all winter, or to store butchered meat for very long. Remember that salt and cold were about the only preservatives, and keeping the rodent population away from the animal feed or preserved meats was very hard to do. Thus, people would pretty much plan on just being down to their breeding stock by early-mid February or so, and to have eaten all of the preserved meat before the weather started getting warmer. The butter and fats would all have to be used up, too, before they started to go rancid. Thus the big bash to eat up the last of the meat and fat (thus Fat Tuesday - Mardi Gras) (which was also why there would be a big pancake fry-up). They would thus have to subsist mostly on bread and beans until the first of the spring greens (those that they got to before the rabbits, anyway) and the spring lambs would become available and the hens started laying (Easter Eggs, anyone?).

We've gotten so far away from the land and the natural rhythm of the seasons that most people have no idea where these traditional customs come from any more.

Laissez les bon temps roulez !

Alan, I like your attitude!

Down here in Panama, Mardi Gras (or "Carnaval") is a very big deal indeed and has been going on for several days now, much like in Nawlins.

A good time to forget the world's problems and just let it all hang out. Tomorrow will deal with itself.

Perhaps, as in the Jimmy Buffett song, this really is "The Party at the End of the World". We shall see, but for now "Let the Good Times Roll !!"

HAPPY Mardi Gras Everybody!

Here is our parade site:

http://www.clarendon.org/mardi.html

Laissez les bon temps roulez !