Get your sinning done today, tomorrow is Lent.
Today is Fat Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras. In days of old, today was the last day of indulgence before Lent (Ash Wednesday). Fat Tuesday is the day to eat fish, meat, milk, eggs, butter, and sweets. As a good school girl I recall being asked to give up one of these things for Lent. I think I also had to be nice to my brother.
But Lent is tomorrow, today is about all the fats.
In pre-Christian times, celebrations at this time of year honoured Bacchus (or Dionysus), he’s the booze god, and widely celebrated during Carnival.
I like this idea of Carnival. When I was in Colombia in 1997, I decided that my dream vacation would be to sail around to all the Caribbean islands celebrating carnival. Each island stages separate events so you could easily follow Carnival from one island to the next. Quite the tour, non?
So today get fat on doughnuts, pancakes and anything with a sweet filling. I recommend custard, jelly, or chocolate. But pancakes are the kicker–butter, eggs and milk. And definitely have some wine.