GETTING BEYOND FAT TUESDAY

[This post was meant to roll earlier this week, but weak internet connections prevented it. Hopefully, there is value in giving thought to fasting, even if the Ash Wednesday starting line has already passed!]

Mardi Gras (aka Kanaval, aka Fat Tuesday, aka, Carnival) is celebrated in Haiti with a fervency that (I would imagine) rivals that of New Orleans. I took the opportunity last Friday afternoon to speak to my adult English class about the big day. The students told me about the parades and bands and drinking and raucous celebrations. But when I asked them if they knew why it’s called “Fat Tuesday”, nobody could say.

Do you know?

Here’s a simplified version: Fat Tuesday is, of course, the day before Ash Wednesday. (My students tell me few Haitian churches recognize Ash Wednesday in any significant way - most had never heard of it.) Centuries ago, many Christians began “celebrating” the season of Lent as a time of fasting and repentance. Some people found it helpful to rid their houses of food that might tempt them or that would go to waste before the arrival of Easter - dairy, eggs, beef.  In time, this purging of the kitchen took on a celebratory feel – the last hurrah coming the day before the leanness of Lent, getting "fat" before the fast. From there, it was only a short jump to the notion of “let’s eat, drink and be merry today and repent tomorrow".  Nowadays, I would guess, Mardi Gras is completely disassociated from even a passing thought of Lent or repentance or fasting in the minds of most observers worldwide.

Historians believe that the name "Carnival" came from the Latin carne vale - "farewell to flesh". Apparently a reference to fasting from meat, but supremely ironic if you read "flesh" in the biblical sense, huh?

I wonder how the yearly number of Mardi Gras celebrators compares to the number of Lenten "fasters".

When I told my Haitian students that nobody in Indiana (where I come from) even acknowledges Mardi Gras, they couldn’t believe it. But when I reflected on it later, it struck me that in the United States, it’s not exactly that we don’t celebrate Mardi Gras, it’s more like we refuse to limit Fat Tuesday to one day a year!

Surrounded by an abundance of things, activities, and food - with the TV and radio constantly urging us to get more, more, more - we find it a struggle to get serious, and to stay serious, about our relationship with God. 

Look at how the Lord warned the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8 about His fears that bringing them into the promised land - "a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing" (v.9) - could potentially lead them to FORGETTING Him! 

"10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

Fasting is all about refocusing - taking our eyes off the gifts and returning them to the Giver.

I hope to take the next few posts to reflect on the practice of fasting. (And I also plan to share some thoughts and photos from this past week's OMS staff retreat.)



P.S. Here was my Fat Tuesday indulgence...