Mardi Gras Begins
Today, the first day after the Epiphany or Twelfth Night for Christian folks, kicks off the Mardi Gras season.
Laissez les bon temps roulez, mes amis?
Mardi Gras is more than King Cakes and parties. Mardi Gras also means tons of trash, and lots of folks burning fossil fuel like there’s no tomorrow to get to New Orleans, a city with some pretty well documented problems. Crowds, noise and usually violence.
I’ll pass.
I’ll be celebrating next weekend by camping in our balmy mid-January temps. While it should be in the forties, it will be nearly 70 degrees next weekend in the Smokies, warm enough to rouse black bear during their hibernation. If the trend continues and worsen, and we have every reason to think they will, this could have a dramatic effect on the Southern Appalachian ecosystem.
Never did get the hang of Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday? Never made much sense to me. But then, I never went in for Thin Wednesday through Monday, either.
Religious holidays always seem to devolve into baccanalian revelries: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fat Tuesday. Makes me question the sincerity of religion in the first place, if I ever thought there was any. Which I haven’t since the day the preacher advised me to make up with my wife and have children. Soured me on religion for the rest of my life.
Never got to thank him for that!
Hadyuke