Spring Break
Mardi Gras combines debauchery with tradition
Chloe Wittry
Issue date: 2/24/09 Section: News
|
Misconceptions of the celebration's origins range from the idea that Southerners created the holiday to the idea that the black community created the celebration to mark the end of the Civil War.
But Paola Malpezzi Price, a CSU professor of French and Italian, said the annual jamboree was created to allow those steeped in the Catholic religion to cut loose before strict moral boundaries are imposed the day after by Lent, a 40-day fast performed before Easter.
"The world was turned up-side-down during the celebration," Malpezzi Price said. "People experienced unbridled freedom in expressing hidden wishes and desires."
The celebration dates back to 2nd century Rome, wherein communities participated in Lupercalia, a circus-type festival that was similar to the modern day Mardi Gras celebrations in which people feasted and drank for several days.
When Christians arrived in Rome, they wanted to incorporate the specific ritual of the Romans into their new faith rather than abolish it.
Also referred to as Carnival, which translates from Latin as "farewell to the flesh," according to Mardi Gras Web site http://novareinna.com, Mardi Gras participants wore costumes and masks to gatherings.
Malpezzi Price said masking identities ensured anonymity, as well as the ability to assume another identity to mock or covet.
Mardi Gras found its way to New Orleans via a French explorer named Sieur d'Iberville, whose exploration of the Mississippi River in 1699 sparked American involvement in the celebration.
More than a century later, celebrations became more elaborate, and in 1839, the first Mardi Gras float rolled through the streets.
Be the first to comment on this story