MARDI GRAS. The date is approaching, it is Tuesday, February 21, 2023. It’s a funny name for a festive tradition: “Mardi Gras” is directly linked to the carnivals that take place around the world. We tell you everything about the origin of the party.
[Mis à jour le 17 février 2023 à 11h42] Atria in Provence, Wonders in Bordeaux, Bugnes near Lyon… If all the French will know very well what to eat on this day of Mardi Gras, how many really know what this date corresponds to? For the record, Mardi Gras, this festival with Christian and pagan origins, actually designates the end of the “week of the seven fat days”. In other words, the day preceding the 40 days of fasting in Lent.
For the last day of the carnival too, we allow ourselves behaviors that we disapprove of the rest of the year: we eat a lot, we dress up, we have fun in the very heart of cities, at least in those that have turned this popular habit into a tradition. Among the most famous: Venice, DunkirkCologne, Rio, but also most of the municipalities of New Orleans. If you want to know everything about the origin and meaning of this holiday, read below.
Anyone who has become accustomed to celebrating carnival knows it: Mardi Gras takes place on the last day of the festivities. It is therefore a important date, but few people know why this holiday took on this rather incongruous name. However, a few notions of Latin are enough to begin to reveal its meaning: “carnival” comes from the Latin “carnis levare”, expression which means “remove, remove the meat”. And if this expression has remained, transformed over the centuries, it is because it refers to an age-old tradition: that of having a good meal before the deprivations of Lentthis period of fasting and abstinence instituted by Christianity.
Mardi Gras is the last day of Carnival. The Italian word comes from the Latin “carnis levare” (“to remove the meat”). It refers to the last “fat” meals taken before Lent (we spoke in the 18th century of “Shrove Sunday” or “Shrove Monday” before Shrove Tuesday). In the past, this season corresponded, in a still predominantly agricultural society, to one of the most critical periods. In effect, in February and March, the peasants dipped into their last reserves of food stored before or during the winter: the ease with which eggs and butter were stored favored – in the same way as for the Candlemas – the tradition of preparing pancakes and waffles during this period.
Pagan rituals existed in the period close to Mardi Gras: they announced or celebrated the rebirth of nature (length of day increasing, beginning of the thaw, then first buds…). It is this reality that was reflected in the Roman calendar, where New Year’s Day was fixed at March 1… Moreover, it was not until the 16th century that New Year’s Day was fixed at January 1st ! With the advent of Christianity and the establishment of the tradition of Lenten fasting (in the 4th century), the festival was transformed into a period of exuberance preceding the rigors of the pre-Easter period.
In the Middle Ages, Lent corresponded to a period of the most restrictive for the population, deprived of dance, celebration, hearty food, sex and pleasure, noted the historian of religions Odon Vallet on France 2 in 2014. this period does not begin, the feast of Mardi gras and its carnival made it possible in particular to elect a “pope of the fools” and to reverse the order of the rational world at the same time as the social order (the rich could disguise themselves as poor , men into women, etc.).
The duality of the period is illustrated by the painting “The Battle of Carnival and Lent” by Bruegel (1559). In a market square, two chariots confront each other. The first is ready: a pot-bellied man straddles a barrel, surrounded by absurd characters and musicians. On the other float, an old woman, towed by monks and nuns. On a wooden board, we notice fish, symbols of Lent (a period when we abstain from meat, excluding seafood). On the inn side (Carnival), we play dice and stuff ourselves with waffles; church side (Lent), the veiled characters prostrate…
Why do we feast on marvels, bugnes and other donuts (but also waffles, pancakes and churros) at Mardi Gras? According to Nadine Cretin, holiday historian interviewed by Madame Figaro, eating in abundance is traditionally customary on the eve of the fast of Lentbut also the return of springwith a “feast that included meats and fatty broths and ended with simple pastries: crepes or donuts, bugnes lyonnaises, wonders of Aquitaine or waffles“.
For the one who is also the author of “Festivals of the table and food traditions” (Ed. Le Pérégrinateur) and of “Fête des Fous, Saint-Jean and Belles de Mai. The festivals of the calendar” (Ed. Seuil) the Mardi gras “implied prosperity, fertility, the return of lactation in stables and sheepfolds, the renewal of nature”.
Are you getting into homemade donuts but don’t have much time? We reveal to you the best donut dough recipeeasy and quick (5 minutes of preparation, 15 minutes of cooking!) for homemade donuts that have nothing to envy to regional recipes, with a dough flavored with lemon or orange zest, which is sprinkled with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon or which can be garnished with jam or Nutella… Bon appétit!
It is in the independent municipalities of Italy that the carnival as we know it today would have been born. Notably in Venice: from the 11th century, the period preceding Lent gave rise to celebrations encouraged by the authorities, who saw it as an opportunity to strengthen civic spirit. Masks appear in the 13th century: they reinforce anonymity and allow excesses. The social roles are reversed, the games and amusements reinforce the animation of the districts.
The Italian tradition is spreading, particularly in central Europe (Switzerland, West Germany, Belgium, northern France) and then in the Americas. Today, all disguises are allowed. Among the most frequent, those from the Commedia dell’arte, a genre of popular Italian theater that appeared in modern times. Harlequin, good living, wears a suit patched with multiple colors, the obsessed old Pantalone walks around with tight stockings, affirming his virility. As for the coarse Polichinelle, he is distinguished by his protruding belly and his falsetto voice…These costumes, designed in the 16th century, allowed the characters to be immediately recognizable to the public, regardless of the theater group or the place of representation… At this time of the year and in memory of this tradition, the stores offering costumes were taken by storm.
Each year, sweet dishes are distributed in schools, to satisfy the taste buds of gourmet children. The latter were also the first to get their hands dirty: at the time, children dressed up to ring the doorbell, in order to gather all the ingredients needed to prepare pancakes, as well as to Candlemas. A recipe that is child’s play: a well of flour, a few whole eggs, butter and (a little) sugar, all gently whisked in with milk. Breton grandmothers recommend adding rum and beer… in moderation!
In 2023, Mardi Gras is set for February 21, a frequent situation because Mardi Gras takes place more in February than in March. The next Mardi Gras dates fall either in February or March, but, as the name of the celebration suggests, always on a Tuesday. What are the exact days concerned until 2025? In 2024, Mardi Gras is set for February 13, followed by March 4, 2025 and February 17, 2026.
Easter comes as always 47 days after Shrove Tuesday. This festival is directly linked to the carnivals that take place around the world. It marks the last day of the festivities, as is the case of the Carnival of Dunkirk which celebrates the last day of the “Trois Joyeuses”.
Mardi Gras did not have the privilege of being a holiday. There are only eleven public holidays in France which are: New Year ; Easter Monday ; Labor Day, Armistice of 1945 And Ascent in May ; Whit Monday in June ; National holiday of July 14; Assumption in August ; Toussaint ; Armistice of November 11 1918 and Christmas.