Hey it's Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras everyone! Fat Tuesday to be exact for those you prefer the literal translation. For the past week, there have been Carnivale in Venice, Brazil and Mobile, Alabama to celebrate the coming of Lent. One last fling before we all buckle down and repent for the 40 days before Easter.

Did you know they've been celebrating Mardi Gras in Mobile, about as long as they have in New Orleans. Since 1703 apparently. I have no idea about this, until my BFF from Mobile told me. Check out the Museum of Mobile site here. And how fabulous that New Orleans went through with Mardi Gras this year, despite the devastation the city went through with Hurricane Katrina. It just goes to show that you can't keep New Orleans down. Like Scarlett O'Hara in GWTW, New Orleans will rise again. It won't be the same city, but I'm sure the New Orleans before the Civil War was different, and the same with the New Orleans before WWI (Storyville anyone?).

I've never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It just looks a little too wild, and I worked with a director who got shot at Mardi Gras. I have however experienced Carnivale in Venice, which was the most amazing experience. What was even wilder was that I ran into Heather Graham at the ball at Palazzo Pisano Moretti which is the grand ball of Carnevale. How weird is that?

When I was a kid, I knew Mardi Gras as Shrove Tuesday. I was raised Episcopalian which is Catholic lite and the school that I went to in NYC was named after two English saints, St. Hilda and St. Hugh. Well, Shrove Tuesday is a big deal in Europe. Most catholic countries celebrate it, as well as England. The origin of the name Shrove lies in the archaic English verb "to shrive" which means to absolve people of their sins. It was common in the Middle Ages for "shriveners" (priests) to hear people's confessions at this time, to prepare them for Lent.

Every year, we'd have a pancake supper at school to celebrate. For years, I used to wonder, why pancakes?

Well, thanks to Yahoo! I finally know why. Apparently in England, in order to use up all the eggs, flour and milk, which was forbidden during Lent, people would make pancakes the day before Lent, serving them with a sugary syrup, which we now replace with maple syrup.

Now of course, we have the International House of Pancakes, which knowing a good marketing opportunity when it sees one, now has a Shrove Tuesday night at all their locations. Patrons were entitled to a free "short stack" of IHOP pancakes. IHOPs across the country will celebrate National Pancake Day from 7 AM to 2 PM.

I've missed it, but anyone who lives on the West Coast can still make it.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which is the first day that I will be giving up bread, sweets, Starbucks, and tabloid magazines. Basically everything that makes life worth living. In 40 days, I'm hoping that I will be expunged of my sins, not to mention thinner, and well-informed about something other than whether or not Nick Lachey is going to get spousal support.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!