Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday - also called Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday. We've come to the end of the season of Carnival, which starts on Epiphany (January 6) and ends at Lent. Fat Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries

2. Make pancakes

3. Make a screen mask

1. Journal queries:

Tomorrow is the start of Lent. At Lent I spend time each day in focused study and prayer, I choose something to fast from, and I also observe Lent as a time of creative action. By now I have some idea of what my theme for study and action will be, but today I will pin it down.

What is the big thing I want to learn and attend to this season? How do I want to grow? 

What is a good symbolic thing to temporarily reduce or cut out of my life, as a reminder of how I want to grow?

From my journal: Most of my activism focus is on climate change, and I want to fuel that work with a strong and intimate connection to the land I live on. Because I am caring for my grandson this year, I have a unique opportunity to see the natural world with through a baby's eyes, with wonder and discovery. So, my themes are the Land, and Wonder. Also, I want to get a better historical and cultural understanding of the valley I live in, from the view of the original dwellers here, the indigenous Kalapuya.

 

2. Make pancakes:
Pancakes are a British custom. This is the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before starting the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up those ingredients.

Many U.K. towns and villages have pancake races on Shrove Tuesday,  where people race with a frying pan while tossing a pancake in it.

In my home it's the man who makes pancakes- his special recipe- and they are delicious!

2. Make a screen mask:
The Cajun celebration today in rural Louisiana is called the Courir (pronounced Coo-REER) de Mardi Gras, or the Mardi Gras Run. It’s a begging ritual, similar to Halloween; people ride around the countryside on horses, wearing masks and costumes, and beg for ingredients to make a gumbo.

My students with their wire masks.

The traditional disguise is a painted wire screen mask, a conical capuchon (pronounced cap-e-shon) hat, and a raggedy fringed shirt and pants.