From Mardi Gras to Mardi Maigre

For those of you who aren't from Louisiana and who have only been exposed to Mardi Gras as a tourist, I thought I would go through a small synopsis of part of the tradition.



Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday. Lent starts the next day on Ash Wednesday, and the forty days of Lent represent the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by satan. The forty days of Lent are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). I can Spark those up to be introspection, healthy eating, and community interaction.

So, since many are preparing to fast and give up the good (but not good for you) stuff, they go hog wild on the Tuesday before...the feast before the famine. Thus the name Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.

This isn't the only time our cultural celebrations revolve around food. In fact, I can't think of any get together these days that doesn't include a lot of food. Super Bowl = junk food. Happy hour = appetizers. Let's go to lunch. Let's meet for coffee (and pound upon pound cake). Why don't you come over for dinner? We're having a fund raiser, it's a banquet. This weekend alone I had three social obligations that revolved around eating.

Don't we know how to have fun anymore without food in our mouths? How about dancing (did that this weekend at one of my functions, forgot to eat, and got lots of exercise). How about playing games?

I'm going to turn my Mardi Gras into a Mardi Maigre (Skinny Tuesday), but I'm still going to have fun. Here are some ideas:

1) Intersperse a bottle of sparkling water between those bottles of beer. It will fill you up!

2) Play games at your parties. We had a bunch of people groan at first when we said "let's play taboo", but 25 people had a good time and got to know each other through a fun game.

3) Dance! If your partner doesn't want to, go out on the floor anyway. Someone will dance with you...eventually.

4) Talk to everyone you see. You can't talk with your mouth full (well, some people can, but they shouldn't).

So, happy Mardi Maigre to all you Spark People, and post your ideas for having fun.