Let the Good Times Roll

As with Easter, the exact date of Mardi Gras changes every year. The celebration always falls on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and Ash Wednesday always occurs exactly 40 days before Easter, not counting the Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter. In the Western hemisphere Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon in the Northern Hemisphere, following the vernal or spring equinox. Mardi Gras is part of the seasonal celebration called Carnival. The Carnival season begins on January 6th, known in the Christian world as Twelfth Night, or the Feast of the Epiphany, and it ends at midnight on Mardi Gras night, just in time for Ash Wednesday and the start of the forty-day season of Lent.

The celebration of Mardi Gras came to North America from Paris, where it had been celebrated since the Middle Ages, when French explorer Iberville and his men arrived in New Orleans in 1699. Many see a relationship to the ancient tribal rituals of fertility that welcomed the arrival of spring. A possible ancestor of the celebration was the Lupercalia, a festivity held in mid-February in Rome. The early Church fathers, realizing that it was impossible to divorce their new converts from their pagan customs, decided instead to direct them into Christian channels. Thus Carnival was created as a period of merriment that would serve as a prelude to the penitential season of Lent.

In the late 1700s pre-Lenten balls and fêtes were held in New Orleans. Under French rule masked balls flourished, but were later banned by the Spanish governors. The prohibition continued when New Orleans became an American city in 1803, but by 1823, the Creole populace prevailed upon the American governor, and balls were again permitted. Four years later street masking was legalized. World War I canceled Carnival in 1918-1919, but Mardi Gras survived this struggle, along with the Prohibition of the Twenties and the Great Depression of the Thirties. In the Forties a new spirit of Mardi Gras was ushered in, pausing only for the United States' involvement overseas. Before World War II canceled four Carnivals, the first women's parade graced the streets of New Orleans with the Krewe of Venus' inaugural pageant in 1941. New Orleans' favorite son, Louis Armstrong, returned home to ride as King of the Zulu parade in 1949. Carnival's growth continued throughout the Seventies, and increasingly attracted tourism to the area.

In Europe –Particularly in Italy and France - celebrations similar to Mardi Gras are known as “Carnival”, a winter festival celebrated with parades, masquerade balls, entertainment, music, and parties. Children throw confetti at each other; mischief and pranks are also quite common. Despite its roots in pagan festivals and traditions, Carnival was adapted to fit into the Catholic rituals. Although carnival is actually one date, in Venice and some other places in Italy the carnival celebrations and parties may begin a couple weeks before.

The 2010 date for carnival is February 16 but celebrations in Venice and many parts of Italy will run from February 6 (or even in late January) through February 16, 2010.

Information included in this post was found at: http://goitaly.about.com/od/festivalsandevents/a/carnevale.htm, http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/mardigras/mardigrashistory/mghistory.html, http://louisiana-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/when_is_mardi_gras

On a Date with Myself

“Self-worth comes from one thing – thinking that you are worthy.” ~ Wayne Dyer


Today all my children are back in school. While I was talking to my editor last night, our discussion led to a list of different things I need to work on and deliver to her soon. “The next few days I will have the chance to work on some of these tasks,” I told her, “but not tomorrow, since I am taking the day for myself.”

After the words escaped my lips, I wondered how they sounded to others. I am quite excited to be working on the list she wants me to work on, and it really does not feel like work at all, but after two weeks of refereeing three kids home on winter break, I think I deserve a few hours for myself.

I remember there was a time in my life when I felt guilty about taking personal time. My motto was to run and run, and then to run some more to make sure everything and everyone were taken care of. Being a nurturer by nature, I thought that was the only way to manage things around me, until one day I started feeling sick. When I finally made myself go to the doctor, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease – I hadn’t felt well for a couple of weeks and I was overly-fatigued, but having small children an a million other things I routinely took care of, I never gave even a tiny thought about slowing down. The doctor was horrified by my lack of care toward my own health, and sent me home with a two-week treatment of antibiotics and a lecture.

I recovered from the illness fairly quickly, but I also made a pledge – never again would I allow myself to get so run-down before paying attention. My outlook on a lot of things changed in those few weeks; I needed to be there for the kids, and the house, and my husband, and our business, but who would take care of it all if something happened to me and I had to be hospitalized? Was I so stuck-up to think they would all be on a fast ride to hell if I wasn’t there to check on everything? Of course not; someone else would be taking care of things – maybe in a different way, but they would take care of everything nonetheless. Another thought crossed my mind…could it be the opposite? Could it be that I valued others more than I valued myself?

It didn’t take me long to realize that in order to take care of others I had to first take care of myself. That included not getting emotionally involved in the personal dramas of others – as my friend Dena so beautifully put it, I became compassionately detached. I still cared for everybody, but I also cared for my own well-being. After all, only a skilled swimmer in good shape could save a drowning man; if one jumped in the water without being able to swim, or allowed the other person to drag them down in their panic, there would be not just one, but two people drowning. That day long ago, I learned that if I really want to be there for others I must first be there for myself.

So, today myself and I are having a date. I’m planning to go browse new titles at a bookstore in the sweet company of a tall cup of Starbucks’ dark roast until it’s time to pick my daughter up from school. In just a couple of hours, I’ll be happy to be Mom again, but for just a little while it will be fun to just be me.

The Deep Freeze

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer.” ~ Albert Camus

No relief from the cold is in the forecast for North Carolina any time soon. With temperatures dipping into the teens at night, and barely reaching the low forties during the day, many have retreated into their homes and into themselves.

During a different cold spell a few years ago, I complained to a friend about the freezing temperatures, and her reply to me was that the earth and the plants needed to rest and regenerate. After doing a little research, I indeed found out that many plants cut off their water intake and go dormant during the winter months. In this time of inertia, they get the opportunity to regenerate within.

As of late, many of us have been cut off the traditional sources of energetic feeding, and they have come to feel isolated and forgotten. With the job situation deteriorating, and average incomes suddenly becoming less than average, our connection to our supply of “water” has been interrupted. Not only that – weakened by economic hardship, many relationships have cracked under pressure and fatally broken down. Many are facing the long winter alone and without the means to weather the elements.

We have become so programmed in our thinking by society and advertisements, that we can no longer see the difference between what we have and who we are. The two are so closely associated in our minds, that if we don’t have enough, we feel that we are nobody worth caring for.

The first reactions to having our external supply of “nutrients” and energy cut off are self-pity and anger, but once those stages have run their course, we realize we still exist, we still feel and we are still loved – by others at least. Each of us has hidden potential which often remains untapped until we need to come up with new strategies to survive. It’s through hardship that we find our true friends, and it is by going within that we learn how to function more effectively without.

The winter might be long and harsh, but spring will come around again; when the timing is right, our connection to external supplies will be restored, and what we have discovered during our dormant phase will help us blossom even more vibrantly.
Winter is a time to burrow inside of ourselves and learn who we are; it’s a time to discover the depth of our potential and the identity of our weaknesses; more importantly, it is a time to realize that our growth is not hindered by an unexpected cold snap.