Of King Cake, Carnival, Epiphany, 3 Kings, and Baby Jesus

The Christian Symbolism of the King Cake

We are just hours away from the beginning of Carnival Season.  On January 6th, the 12th night, the traditional feast of the Epiphany, sometimes called Kings Day, we celebrate the Biblical story of the Three Magi visiting the child Jesus bearing gifts.  Also known as the Three Wisemen, they brought to Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.   

Epiphany, meaning to show or to manifest, celebrates that these Magi, who were Gentiles, recognized Jesus, even as an infant, as the savior and so shows that Jesus came to save all mankind, not just the people of Israel.

Carnival, or Mardi Gras season, is synonymous with King Cake season.  The tradition of the King Cake was brought to New Orleans from France.  The King Cake is an oval-shaped cake that mimics the crown of a king as well as the unity of people.  The cake is decorated in royal colors of Purple, signifying Justice, Green, signifying Faith, and Gold, signifying Power.

The cake has within it a tiny plastic, or in some cases porcelain, baby, signifying the baby Jesus.  Tradition is if you receive the piece of cake with the baby, and as King for the day, you will host the next party and provide the King Cake.

May we all have a blessed and happy 12th Knight and traditional celebration of the Epiphany.

No Mardi Gras, hard winter weather and here comes Lent; reflecting on a Monday morning

 In any other year, down here in the southeast and southwest parts of Louisiana, especially in and around New Orleans, we would be all geared up for tomorrow, Tuesday, aka Fat Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras.  By now the whole season of Carnival and it's signature parades would be 2-3 weeks old, pointing to the culmination on Mardi Gras Day.  Today is called Lundi Gras and many folks, locals and tourists alike, would be recovering from the previous weekend's onslaught of parades, several of which are called super-krewes, because of the sheer size and number of the parade floats.  And still the ultimate climax would still be a full day away.  Mardi Gras Day, especially in New Orleans, is marked by families out on the parade routes before dawn, setting up tents and cooking delicious foods while the early morning marching groups walk by.  Then the parades begin, depending where you are set up first Zulu, followed by Rex, known as the King of Carnival, then the seemingly never ending truck floats of Elks and Crescent City.  Once over, families pack up, return home, although some flock to the French Quarter for the more adult version of Fat Tuesday which ends at midnight with the ceremonial clearing of the streets by the police department and the sanitation crews.  Not far away the grand masquerade balls of Rex and Comus also end the season with the grand meeting of the courts.  The end of a great day and a long season that makes us uniquely Louisiana and uniquely New Orleans.  Sadly, not this year, not yesterday, not today and not tomorrow.

The horrible pandemic, this deadly virus put a halt to the Carnival season and Mardi Gras with it.  No balls, no parties, no parades.  In fact most of the historic French Quarter is closed, bars can't serve alcohol and crowds cannot congregate.  Covid19 did what only world wars and a police strike could do; stop the parades.  And as I write this on Lundi Gras, who knew that the Monday - Tuesday celebration would be threatened even without Covid19 by a freak weather event.  We are suffering with brutal cold, like most of the country, but we don't handle this well.  Some areas are currently getting ice, sleet, some snow and a very hard freeze, by New Orleans standards is moving in.  In fact tomorrow, which would see people crowded all over the place, will dawn with temps in the teens and wind chills colder than that.  Possibly ok for someone from the Midwest or New England, but dangerous and not fun for us southerners.

I cringe when it gets this cold.  Yes, I'm the guy that posts all summer long that I need the colder weather because I'm sick and tired of all the heat.  Yep, that's me; but I do not advocate for this.  I've only experienced 2, maybe 3 hard freezes and the last one left me without water for a time.  I literally was camped out near my water pump with a blow dryer trying to defrost a iced line; by the way, it worked.  

So all we can do today and tomorrow is hunker down and ride it out, praying for the power to hold and the water to flow.  And we all look forward to a more normal and usual Carnival time in 2022, even me, who does not venture out to the parades even in the best of weather.  But one thing we hope will go on, as adjusted for the virus, is Lent, beginning on Wednesday, Ash Wednesday.  It will still be cold for us but the nasty weather and hard freezes will be gone.  For us, at my parish in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, we will change the normal way we distribute ashes.  Instead of the usual cross applied to the foreheads of the faithful we will instead sprinkle a pinch of dry ashes on the crown of the head, you know, the way they do it at the Vatican.  Masks will be required by both the ministers distributing the ashes and the faithful receiving the ashes.  Then on Friday we begin our Stations of the Cross.  Fridays in Lent also bring forth the KC Lenten Fish Fry dinners, take-out only this year also due to the pandemic.

So hopefully we all endure the brutal winter weather well and we all reminisce about Mardi Gras past, hopeful for the future.  And hopefully, we are all preparing worthily and well for a season of Lent which prepares us for the joys of Easter.

Kudos to local Channel 4 for asking this question because the answer is, duh!

Photo by: WWL-TV

 

Has Carnival gotten too large, too dangerous?

The season has grown – massively. Krewes have gotten bigger, parades longer and floats have grown larger as the spectacle seems to keep trying to one-up itself.

Author: Tom Planchet / WWLTV.com

Published: 11:19 AM CST February 23, 2020

Updated: 11:21 AM CST February 23, 2020

NEW ORLEANS — OPINION:

Yet again, the city of New Orleans's Carnival celebration has made national headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The city, known for its debauchery, revels in its annual two-to-three-week party, which puts on display the ultimate in excesses in a city already known for its excesses.

It’s our celebration, though. It’s frivolity, satire, bawdiness and a chance to thumb our noses to the cares of the world for several days.

We don’t want to have our parades be the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. We take pride in our gaudy, ostentatious floats, our talented marching bands and our over-the-top throws

It's our celebration and it's glorious, but we must save it. Oh, Mardi Gras will never go away, but its reputation is being tarnished. 

There are problems. We once judged the success of the party by its trash tonnage. T-shirts sold in the French Quarter and worn by tourists celebrate the levels of inebriation by those participating in what is supposed to be the last decadent party before the season of Lent.

RELATED: Man killed by Endymion float - City cancels tandem floats for remainder of Mardi Gras

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And the headlines recently? Well, they haven't been good. 

In 2017, a drunken driver plowed into the enormous, unsuspecting crowd at Endymion sending more than a dozen spectators to the hospital. Thankfully no one was killed, but several people suffered life-altering injuries.

In 2019, just blocks from parades, a group of bicyclists enjoying the celebration and wisely – they thought – using a mode of transportation that gets them around traffic jams – were slammed into by a drunken driver, killing two and leaving others, again, with life-altering injuries.

A Krewe of Endymion parade float struck and killed a person Saturday night. It was the second fatality in less than a week.

Max Becherer/Nola.com

And now in 2020, two people have died. At least one was caught in between two sections of multi-part floats – engineering marvels that allow, in some cases, more than 100 riders to be pulled by a single tractor – but which makes navigating the crowds, which are often allowed to walk right up to the floats in pursuit of trinkets, a dangerous proposition.

One of the float drivers told WWL-TV after the Nyx tragedy claimed the life of 58-year-old Geraldine Carmouche on Wednesday night, that running over someone was his greatest fear.

New Orleans has become a national destination since its revival following Hurricane Katrina. Parties like Carnival parades are often championed as the reason citizens put up with the floods, crumbling infrastructure and hulking, vacant buildings.

And Carnival has grown – massively. Krewes have gotten bigger, parades longer, floats have gotten larger as the spectacle seems to keep trying to one-up itself.

But its very growth – along with the things that it has always been known for – has now made it the subject of headlines that a Chamber of Commerce doesn’t like to see. Perhaps, though, the day of reckoning was always coming.

Massive crowds and vehicles crowd the streets. This year, one of the busiest intersections of Carnival is closed, shunting the increasing traffic into even fewer thoroughfares. Already travel is hard during Carnival. With extra weeks of parades and longer parades, law enforcement is stretched thin, even with hundreds of reinforcements.

And while celebrating with alcohol is a long tradition, and while many stay in or near proximity to the parading and partying, it would be naïve to think that hundreds of drivers -- if not more -- take to the streets well over the limits to safely drive. Just ask anyone who drives home late at night after a parade and they’ll tell you the site of cars swerving in and out of lanes is a common one.

More inebriated drivers on streets with more inebriated pedestrians on streets with site lines blocked by illegally-parked cars and hundreds of children excitedly running around is a recipe for disaster that probably has only miraculously failed to provide more tragedy.

Add to that the massive floats that don’t at this time have the newest safety features of automobiles and the tacit permission of people to walk right up to floats and cross the streets between them and what has happened was probably only a matter of time.

The city of New Orleans has quickly rushed to make a major change in the wake of the second death of a spectator in four nights – the banning of multi-part floats for the remainder of 2020. But, expect more major changes to come.

Someone pointed out how stretched law enforcement was Saturday with NOMTOC, the hugely-attended parade on the west bank, Tucks and Iris Uptown and Endymion, the grandest of all of the spectacles, in Mid-City.

Expect more pressure for Endymion to fall in line and traverse the Uptown streets. Expect some limits to be proposed to parade lengths and number of riders. Expect a push to maybe contract the now month-long nights of parading. Expect calls for more barricades and a possible no-tolerance rule for people rushing the floats.

There were several changes made to parades prior to this season, some legislated, some self-imposed, like the move to more "green" throws and fewer beads after the realization – painfully – that those throws are clogging our drainage system and exacerbating an already worrisome problem.

Mardi Gras and the city’s reputation have grown – massively – since Katrina. This may be the tipping point, though.

Limits need to be set so that our celebration can continue to be talked about – for all the right reasons. Accidents happen. These could likely have been foreseen.

You could look at pure numbers and rationalize that hundreds of thousands of people didn’t die in the recent celebrations, but that would be the wrong way to look at it. People who are coming just to have a good time shouldn’t lose their lives over things that could likely have been predicted. If a child was playing with matches or people with too much to drink wanted to walk along sides of mountains, we would probably stop them and show them a better way.

No one has all the answers, but the city better start finding some. There is no doubt that they will try. This doesn’t need to be the price we pay for our party. It can’t be.

From the FB page of Archbishop Aymond: He leads Mass for the over 400 Catholics who ride tonight in a New Orleans Mardi Gras Super Krewe

Archbishop Gregory Aymond


More than 400 members of the Crew of Endymion gathered at the Convention Center for Mass before the parade. It’s was great to pray with them before they boarded the floats.

Epiphany for us in New Orleans also means it's King Cake season and there is a religious connection to this tasty treat

The King Cake Tradition, Explained

Why is there a plastic baby baked inside?

by Dana Hatic

Eric Wagner/Flickr

Americans usher in the new year with diets and lifestyle resolutions galore, but many people across the globe — particularly those from predominantly Catholic countries — celebrate the calendar change with a sweet pastry known as king cake. It first appears in bakery cases at the beginning of each year and can be found at the center of celebrations through early spring. Some associate it with Mardi Gras, others with a celebration known as Epiphany.

King cake is eaten on January 6 in honor of Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, which historically marks the arrival of the three wise men/kings in Bethlehem who delivered gifts to the baby Jesus. (The plastic baby hidden inside king cakes today is a nod to this story.) King cake also appears on tables throughout the Carnival season, which runs from Epiphany to Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent), at which point practitioners typically abstain from such indulgences as cake.

The pastry goes by different names around the world, and comes in varying shapes and styles. Here now, an exploration of the history of this baked good, the traditions surrounding it, and a brief look at king cakes across the globe.

Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images

What is king cake?

A sweet, circular pastry, cake, or bread that is the centerpiece of a historically Catholic celebration known as Epiphany, which falls on January 6. Today it takes on many different forms and is found at a variety of similar celebrations with religious origins. Most Americans are likely familiar with Louisiana-style king cakes that consist of a cake-y bread dough twisted into a ring and decorated with colored icing and sprinkles. Variants can be made from cake batter or bread dough or pastry, but almost all versions are shaped into a circle or oval to mimic the appearance of a king’s crown.

Every king cake contains a trinket — often a small figurine in the shape of a baby — which plays a crucial part in the celebration of the holiday that inspired this pastry. Whomever finds the trinket in their slice of cake gets to be the “king” for a day.

Where did it originate?

King cake is said to have originated in Old World France and Spain and came to be associated with Epiphany during the Middle Ages. When it was brought to the New World (along with Catholicism and Christianity), the tradition evolved further.

In New Orleans, king cake and Mardi Gras go hand in hand: The cakes can be found starting in early January and are available up until Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. The symbolic bean or baby baked (or embedded) into the king cake is important to Mardi Gras celebrations because the person who gets the piece containing the baby must host the next year’s celebration.

How is it made?

To make it, sweet dough is twisted into a round and sometimes adorned with colored sugar doughs before being baked. Some versions are split and then filled with cream or fruit; others are topped with candied fruit, icing, and colored sugar. Louisiana-style king cake is almost always decorated in the colors associated with Mardi Gras: green, gold, and purple (representing faith, power, and justice).

Why is there a plastic baby inside my king cake?

Flickr/Michael Doss

While there’s a long history of hiding trinkets inside king cakes, the modern tradition of a small plastic baby started in New Orleans. A commercial bakery called McKenzie's popularized the baby trinket that was baked into cakes back in the 1950s; they were originally made of porcelain but later swapped out for an easier-to-find plastic version. These days the plastic baby figurine is typically sold along with the already-baked cake and hidden by the purchaser, rather than coming baked inside (due to concerns about eating something that’s been baked around a piece of plastic).

The baby inside the king cake is such an important tradition that each year during Carnival, the New Orleans’ NBA team unveils a seasonal King Cake Baby mascot (which is absolutely terrifying, by the way).

What other countries serve king cakes?

In France, galette des rois translates literally as “cake of kings,” and is a flaky pastry cake made from puff pastry that is typically filled with a frangipane almond cream (or occasionally fruit or chocolate). A decorative pattern is scored into the top of it before baking, and sometimes the finished cake is topped with a paper crown. Traditionally, there is a “fève,” or bean, hidden inside.

The king cakes of New Orleans more closely resemble those of Spanish-speaking countries rather than the king cake that originated in France.

Rosca de reyes, served in Spain and Latin America, is a ring-shaped sweet bread that can also be topped with candied fruit, in addition to a light layer of icing.

Bolo rei, the Portuguese version of king cake, is also ring-shaped and is filled with candied fruit and sometimes nuts.

Bulgaria’s banitsa is generally served on New Year’s Eve, and also on other special occasions like weddings or festivals. It consists of sheets of phyllo dough wrapped around soft cheese and it contains charms as well as written fortunes.

The vasilopita in Greece and Cyprus is traditionally served on New Year’s Day, and closely resembles the French galette. It is round and flat with almonds on top that sometimes denote the year. Vasilopita also usually has a coin baked into it.

The common denominator between all of these cakes is that they all have a small trinket or figurine — such as a bean, a coin, a nut, or a tiny baby figurine — hidden inside. Whoever finds the trinket in their slice of cake gets to be “king” for a day and is also said to have good luck.

Where can I get my own king cake?

If you happen to be located in New Orleans, there are bakeries galore selling king cakes — whether you’re in the market for the traditional brioche ring version or something fancied up with peanut butter or bacon. Outside of Louisiana, every major city, particularly if there’s a sizable Catholic presence, will also be home to at least a couple of bakeries catering to king cake lovers this time of year.

And for those who want to go the DIY route, there are no shortage of king cake recipes online, including quick-and-lazy variations involving canned cinnamon rolls. Just don’t forget to include the baby.

New Years Day almost over but so much to look forward to

January 1st is almost over although I would love to watch the entire Sugar Bowl; only one problem: game starts way to late.  Even though many view this evening as the end of the holiday season, it is not, and even if it were, there is still so much to look forward to!

First of all January is one of my favorite months of the year; it can get cold here, but usually it's not that bad.  After I return to work tomorrow I can look forward to our St. Jane staff Christmas Party to be held Thursday night at one of the best restaurants over here on the Northshore of New Orleans.  Come Friday we have our normal 1st Friday devotion that includes all day Adoration and evening Benediction, which I often preside at.  The weekend at church brings the Feast of the Epiphany, a great celebration of the Christmas season!  And the Epiphany in New Orleans also means Kings Day ushering in the 1st day of the Carnival Season and the delicious King cake.  See, so much to look forward to.

Next week begins a Bible Study that I am very excited about as our adult program tackles the Book of Revelation.

You know I've learned over and over again, and sometimes I need reminders, that it is what you make of it.  The end of the secular idea of Christmas doesn't have to be the end of Christmas or the end of enjoyable times.  Every day is meant to be lived and indeed celebrated.  It is a gift from God.  Mondays aren't bad, besides you need them to arrive at the Fridays of life.  I like January, you may like July, the good news is we need them both to fully live life.

I return to work tomorrow and soon my decorations return to the attic.  It's all good; there is so much to look forward to.  And don't forget to give God all the credit; give Him your praise and thanks!

The Rex parade on Mardi Gras Day honors New Orleans Catholicism

The city of New Orleans celebrated Mardi Gras Feb. 13 with a nod to the 300-year-old city’s Catholic roots. Five floats in Rex, which has been parading since 1872, had Catholic themes, including:

1. St. Louis Cathedral, which was established in 1718, the same year the city was founded.

2. The Ursuline Sisters, who arrived from France in 1727, nine years after the city was established. The Ursulines founded the oldest Catholic school for girls in the U.S.

3. The Good Friday fire of 1788, which destroyed 80 percent of the city but did not damage the Old Ursuline Convent.

4. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, the patroness of the city, whose intercession was invoked by outmanned American troops before their defeat of the British army in the Battle of New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1815.

5. Venerable Henriette Delille, a free woman of color who was born in 1813 and founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1842 to teach and catechize slaves at a time when doing so was prohibited by law. Venerable Delille’s cause for canonization is being reviewed by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

And, now, we welcome the prayer, fasting and almsgiving of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday.

Happy Mardi Gras 2018

Good morning world and Happy Mardi Gras.  I understand for many of you today is just Tuesday but for us in greater New Orleans area, across south Louisiana, the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Mobile Alabama, it is indeed Mardi Gras, literally translated Fat Tuesday!  We tend to misuse the words, Mardi Gras, as if it is the season and not the actual day.  The season that begins on Kings Day, the Epiphany, January 6th is also the beginning of the Carnival season which runs until Mardi Gras day.  That day fluctuates as it is directly tied to Easter so I believe Mardi Gras could be as early as February 3rd and as late as March 9th.  With my birthday falling on March 4, Mardi Gras has occurred a few times on my birthday.

Today in New Orleans is the great climax of the Carnival season.  Historic parades named Zulu and Rex, the King of Carnival, parade through the streets, followed by a hundred or more decorated truck floats manned by families and friends.  Parades also march in the suburbs, over here where I live on the Northshore, across the Gulf Coast and Mobile.  In Cajun land, more southwest in Louisiana, they ride on horseback through the towns and villages gathering ingredients to make a gumbo.  Sadly, the authorities allow full scale debauchery to go on later today in the French Quarter which I feel is a huge black eye for Mardi Gras and the city of New Orleans.

At midnight, the police symbolically walks through the French Quarter accompanied by street cleaning machines and announcing quite loudly that Mardi Gras is over, go home.  We all know no one goes home.  And then Wednesday dawns and it is Ash Wednesday, Lent has begun.  Believe it or not, thousands who were partying for a month including Fat Tuesday will shake it off, get to church and accept ashes.  They, along with all of us, transition from feast to fast.

For my wife and me, this day has become one of two things; we have used the holiday to travel to North Carolina several times or, if home, use the day as an opportunity to catch up on rest and relaxation.  We have had so much rain lately that there is really nothing to do outside so we have hunkered in for the day.  Even though we should not, we have a little King Cake to celebrate, the parades and festivities are on all the local TV stations and this year, for an extra measure of good news, we can watch all the Olympics we can stand.

So Happy Mardi Gras from us in south Louisiana, enjoy your Tuesday!  And let's all get prepared for Ash Wednesday!

The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat

Happy Saturday night or, as it is in New Orleans, Happy Samedi Gras!

I just posted my feelings about Mardi Gras on Facebook; I can't wait for it to be over and I dislike the whole idea of getting involved in so much crazy.  I mean floats roll by, throwing penny trinkets and people defy the weather, fight to clutch and grab and come home with a bag of junk worth about $ 1.98.  Now I know of which I speak.  Until I got wise, I was Mr. Carnival, Captain Mardi Gras.  I would chase parade after parade, grovel for cheap plastic throws, collect doubloons and plan my next parade adventure with gusto.  For me, it has grown old.  Look, it is an incredibly rich tradition in New Orleans, and other places too, but not like New Orleans, and it was given to us from France.  But as usual, we have taken the original religious, deeply Catholic traditions of Carnival, farewell to the flesh, and have made it a literal circus.  Mardi Gras was a day, Carnival season reserved for traditions, not the now 4-week long litany of parade after parade, around 100 in the greater New Orleans/southeast Louisiana area.  To each their own: I would never want to see a "no" Carnival season and I wish profound happiness to those who get joy at going to the festivities, but for me, a big fat no thank you.  Yes, I catch the local and small parade that passes by the church, and I will watch a major parade or two on local TV, but that is all.  I often wonder, my so many people, not all but many, would not make the same extraordinary effort to get to church, learn the Bible, receive the Eucharist and worship God as they do to catch a silly parade.  But like I say, to each their own!

By the way, there is one real major reason, in addition to my logic displayed above, to miss out on this parade frenzy, it's called the Winter Olympics 2018.  I love the Olympic games, be they summer or winter.  Now we have the winter games from South Korea. I admit the winter sports is an education for me as I do not know a lot about such things.  And I also like Olympics because I cheer for the good old USA and I want them to dominate in medals.  Sadly that won't happen in these games but is a must in those summer games.  Like ABC used to say every Saturday afternoon, it is the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

While Wendy and I avoid all things Mardi Gras and embrace all things Olympics we are desperately trying to recover and rehab.  Wendy is still dealing with the aftermath of nasty stomach ulcers and blood loss.  Then I caught a nasty cold, head gunk and cough and naturally, Wendy gets that too.  So she has been really struggling with recovery and I must admit, slowed by this nasty stuff.

Ministry will change dramatically in the days and weeks ahead as we enter Lent.  Ash Wednesday will see me assisting at Mass and bringing ashes, hopefully, up to the men at Rayburn Prison.  I also have some duties in Lent that will take me back to Most Holy Trinity Parish (served there from 2011-mid 2015).  One event is the Rite of Election, part of the RCIA process leading to the great Easter Vigil where dozens of thousands, if not more, will be welcomed into the church; converts, a great gift to Holy Mother Church.  And I'll be back again to offer an evening of reflection as part of the parish's Lenten devotions.  And all through Lent there will be opportunity after opportunity to properly prepare for Easter, reflect on our own sinfulness and ask God for His abundant mercy.  Stations of the Cross will be offered every Friday evening at our church so please come by.  We also have a big parish mission in March, details to follow.

So this tired and recovering Deacon is home, comfortable and at peace, recovering and praying for Wendy to recover quickly as we also await the birth of our new granddaughter, expected to arrive in about 2 weeks now.  Yes, no Mardi Gras for me but plenty of Olympics, where we will indeed witness the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Epiphany means Three Kings so that means time for King Cakes

History of King Cakes

The Mardi Gras or Carnival season officially begins on January 6th or the "Twelfth Night," also known to Christians as the "Epiphany." Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means "to show." Jesus first showed himself to the three wisemen and to the world on this day. As a symbol of this Holy Day, a tiny plastic baby is placed inside each King Cake.

 

The King Cake tradition is thought to have been brought to New Orleans from France in 1870. A King Cake is an oval-shaped bakery delicacy, crossed between a coffee cake and a French pastry that is as rich in history as it is in flavor. It's decorated in royal colors of PURPLE which signifies "Justice," GREEN for "Faith," and GOLD for "Power." These colors were chosen to resemble a jeweled crown honoring the Wise Men who visited the Christ Child on Epiphany. In the past such things as coins, beans, pecans, or peas were also hidden in each King Cake.
Today, a tiny plastic baby is the common prize. At a party, the King Cake is sliced and served. Each person looks to see if their piece contains the "baby." If so, then that person is named "King" for a day and bound by custom to host the next party and provide the King Cake.
Mardi Gras Day has a moveable date and may occur on any Tuesday from February 3rd to March 9th. It is always the day before Ash Wednesday, and always falls 46 days before Easter

January 6th, traditional Epiphany, ushers in Twelfth Night and the beginning of the Mardi Gras season, Carnival

Celebrate the Twelfth Night in New Orleans. (Photo: Paul Broussard)

With Christmas day behind us and the New Year fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about the impending Carnival season, which kicks off each year on Twelfth Night. Unlike Mardi Gras’ ever-changing date, Twelfth Night always falls on Jan. 6. It marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, thus officially ending the holiday season. While some religious sects believe that Twelfth Night falls on Jan. 5, here in New Orleans we celebrate on Jan. 6, the 12th day after Christmas. Those who observe Twelfth Night on Jan. 5 consider Christmas starting at sunset on Christmas Eve.

The Phunny Phorty Phellows commandeer a St. Charles Avenue streetcar on Twelfth Night. (Photo: Anthony Posey via Flickr)

Twelfth Night is significant here in New Orleans because it is the official start of the Carnival season, which concludes at the end of Mardi Gras day. Leave it to a city like New Orleans to transition directly from the Christmas holidays to Carnival season. Twelfth Night has always been important in New Orleans, being celebrated and observed as far back as colonial times. However, it wasn’t until post-Civil War in 1870 that the Twelfth Night Revelers formalized the tradition. Since then it’s been celebrated in various iterations and forms.
It’s also important to note that since Carnival season doesn’t start until Twelfth Night, staunch observers of tradition wait until that day to have their first piece king cake for the year. Local lore goes that if king cake is eaten before Twelfth Night, it will rain on Mardi Gras day. Many wave this off as nonsense and sell king cakes year-round. However, since New Orleans is a city built on traditions and superstitions alike, the majority of people here still observe the practice of waiting until Twelfth Night for that first delicious, gooey, cinnamon-y bite of king cake.

How to Celebrate Twelfth Night in New Orleans

Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc Parade. This medieval-themed walking parade is a theatrical procession inspired by Joan of Arc’s time in 1400s France. The parade begins at 6 p.m. at Toulouse and Decatur Streets, goes through the French Quarter and ends up back on Decatur Street across from Jackson Square. Along the way there are toasts from the Historic New Orleans Collection and Grégor Trumel, Consul General of France in New Orleans, from the Williams Research Center balcony at 400 Chartres St.; a sword blessing at St. Louis Cathedral by Father Philip Landry; ending with the crowning of the king and a king cake ceremony. Revelers are invited to wear gold and join the fun.
The Phunny Phorty Phellows (PPP). The PPP’s annual ride exists to gleefully celebrate the arrival of Carnival time. As per tradition, this small but jovial krewe commandeers a single streetcar for the evening, spreading revelry and merriment all along the St. Charles Streetcar line. This year the PPP kicks off their parade at 7 p.m. Jan. 6 in Uptown at the streetcar barn on Willow Street. The route takes the festive streetcar along the entire length of the streetcar line (all the way downtown to Canal Street) and then retraces its route back to the barn on Willow Street.

The Cathoic Roots of Carnival/Mardi Gras; preparing for Lent; never meant to be the spectacle we have turned it in to...It should be a family event getting us ready for prayer, fasting and almsgiving

Catholic Roots of Mardi Gras: Carnival-"Farewell to the Flesh"

Thu, Feb 27, 2014

American Catholic

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last hurrah before the Catholic season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. It also has links to the Christmas season through the period known as Carnival.

Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.

What is less known about Mardi Gras is its relation to the Christmas season, through the ordinary-time interlude known in many Catholic cultures as Carnival. (Ordinary time, in the Christian calendar, refers to the normal "ordering" of time outside of the Advent/Christmas or Lent/Easter seasons. There is a fine Scripture From Scratch article on that topic if you want to learn more.)

Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh." Like many Catholic holidays and seasonal celebrations, it likely has its roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons. Some believe the festival represented the few days added to the lunar calendar to make it coincide with the solar calendar; since these days were outside the calendar, rules and customs were not obeyed. Others see it as a late-winter celebration designed to welcome the coming spring. As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a Fast of 40 Days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.

The Carnival season kicks off with the Epiphany, also known as Twelfth Night, Three Kings' Day and, in the Eastern churches, Theophany. Epiphany, which falls on January 6, 12 days after Christmas, celebrates the visit of the Wise Men bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. In cultures that celebrate Carnival, Epiphany kicks off a series of parties leading up to Mardi Gras.

Epiphany is also traditionally when celebrants serve King's Cake, a custom that began in France in the 12th century. Legend has it that the cakes were made in a circle to represent the circular routes that the Wise Men took to find Jesus, in order to confuse King Herod and foil his plans of killing the Christ Child. In the early days, a coin or bean was hidden inside the cake, and whoever found the item was said to have good luck in the coming year. In Louisiana, bakers now put a small baby, representing the Christ Child, in the cake; the recipient is then expected to host the next King Cake party.

There are well-known season-long Carnival celebrations in Europe and Latin America, including Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The best-known celebration in the U.S. is in New Orleans and the French-Catholic communities of the Gulf Coast. Mardi Gras came to the New World in 1699, when a French explorer arrived at the Mississippi River, about 60 miles south of present day New Orleans. He named the spot Point du Mardi Gras because he knew the holiday was being celebrated in his native country that day.

Eventually the French in New Orleans celebrated Mardi Gras with masked balls and parties, until the Spanish government took over in the mid-1700s and banned the celebrations. The ban continued even after the U.S. government acquired the land but the celebrations resumed in 1827. The official colors of Mardi Gras, with their roots in Catholicism, were chosen 10 years later: purple, a symbol of justice; green, representing faith; and gold, to signify power.

Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of Carnival. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from "to shrive," or hear confessions), Pancake Tuesday and fetter Dienstag. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins.

For more on the customs of Lent, please visit our Lent feature.
http://www.americancatholic.org/features/mardigras/