Mardi Gras, Mimosas & Me

Considering that I don't live in Mobile, AL, or N'Oleans, LA, I have certainly had my share Mardi Gras festivities this year. It started with our annual Thalian Ball and will end with a "Fat Tuesday" dinner of some sort, perhaps a Pancake Supper in honor of Shrove Day. I attended a Mardi Gras Festival at our local Episcopal Church on Friday evening; wonderful food, fun and fellowship; a keg and wine in the fellowship hall complete with jambalaya and dancing. All the hoop-la has caused me to ask questions and seek answers regarding Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Lent and its place in the Christian Church.

At Brunch, while sipping my mimosa, I was quizzed on my knowledge or in this case lack of knowledge of Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Lent & the Lenten Season. Often we see the party-fest associated with the Mardi Gras season and have no idea that it has Christian origin. When asked "why give up something for Lent?" "How does giving up something honor what Christ did for us on the cross?" I stumbled for answers. The latter question and the thought of "trivializing" Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross urged me to dig deeper and find out why we celebrate this time and what correlation it has with Easter. This is some of the information I acquired...

Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday & Carnival
Wikipedia states: Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday and is also called "Fasching", "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". Mardi Gras is the final day of Carnival, though the term is often used incorrectly to describe the days and weeks preceding Fat Tuesday. Carnival begins 12 days after Christmas, or Twelfth Night, on January 6 and ends on Mardi Gras, which always falls exactly 47 days before Easter. Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include New Orleans, Louisiana; Venice, Italy; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Many other places have important Mardi Gras celebrations as well. Carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, except in the United Kingdom where pancakes are the tradition, and also in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

My home, Dothan, AL, however, is not known for its elaborate Mardi Gras Celebration. We do have the Thalian Mardi Gras Society (a band party at country club women ages 29-50) and "BIG GIRL MARDI GRAS" (for lack of better words, women 45+ another country club party). The Episcopal Mardi Gras Celebration Supper as well as a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and the Catholic, Episcopal, & Methodist denominations hold Ash Wednesday Church Services. Dothan might be more infamous or notorious for our Mardi Gras parties than anything.

Today Carnival or Mardi Gras it is celebrated in many places with parades, costumes, dancing, and music. Many Christians’ discomfort with Lent originates with a distaste for Mardi Gras. In some cultures, especially the Portuguese culture of Brazil, the French culture of Louisiana, and some of the Caribbean cultures such as Trinidad, it has tended to take on the excesses of wild and drunken revelry. There has been some attempt in recent years to change this aspect of the season, such as using Brazilian Carnival parades to focus on national and cultural history. Many churches now observe Mardi Gras with a church pancake breakfast or other church meal, eating together as a community before the symbolic fasting of Lent begins (crivoice.org).

Another term used is 'Shrove Tuesday' (aka Fat Tuesday-in French, Mardi= Tuesday; gras= fat, as in "pate de foie gras", which is liver paste and very fatty), because on that day a thrifty housewife uses up the fats that she has kept around (the can of bacon drippings, or whatever) for cooking, but that she will not be using during Lent. Since pancakes are a standard way of using up fat, the day is also called Pancake Tuesday. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom. To shrive someone, in old-fashioned English is to hear his acknowledgement of his sins, to assure him of God's forgiveness, and to give him appropriate spiritual advice. Shrove Tuesday is considered a day when many Christians make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth in which they especially need to ask God's guidance.

Ash Wednesday
According to the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days before Easter. It falls on different dates from year to year, according to the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10. At worship services on this day, ashes are imposed on the foreheads of the faithful. The priest, minister, or in some cases officiating layperson marks the forehead of each participant with black ashes, in the shape of a cross, which the worshiper traditionally retains until washing it off after sundown.
This tradition comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ heads or foreheads as a sign of humility before God, a symbol of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the worshipper in a position to realize the consequences of sin. Ash Wednesday is a somber day of reflection on what needs to change in our lives if we are to be fully Christian and a time for repentence. Biblical passages that show examples of using ashes to express penitence are found in Job 42:3-6, Numbers 19:9, 17, Hebrews 9:13, Jonah 3:6, Matthew 11:21, and Luke 10:13.

Some Christians do not celebrate Ash Wednesday and say that the practice is not consistent with Scripture. They usually cite Matthew 6:16–18, where Jesus gave prescriptions for fasting: "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites...Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (NRSV) These groups argue that Jesus warned against fasting to gain favor from other people and that he also warned his followers that they should fast in private, not letting others know they were fasting. For these reasons, some Christian denominations do not endorse the practice. Others, however, point out that this very passage is the one, not coincidentally, that is appointed by the Revised Common Lectionary to be read on Ash Wednesday.

Lent
Lent, in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, where he endured temptation by Satan. Different churches calculate the forty days differently. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, as celebrated during Holy Week, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Western Christianity, Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death. In those churches which follow the Byzantine tradition (e.g. Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics), the forty days of Lent are calculated differently: the fast begins on Clean Monday, Sundays are included in the count, and it ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. The days of Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Holy Week are considered a distinct period of fasting.

During my quest for answers I came across a website, crivoice.org/cylent; what Dennis Bratcher wrote on The Season of Lent spoke to me and explains best the answers to many questions I had and was asked about The Journey of Lent:

Reflections on Lent
We enjoy celebrating Palm Sunday and we all love Easter Sunday! It is a happy time, with flowers, new clothes, and the expectation of Spring in the air. BUT, it is too easy and promotes too cheap a grace to focus only on the high points of Palm Sunday and Easter without walking with Jesus through the darkness of Good Friday, a journey that begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a way to place ourselves before God humbled, bringing in our hands no price whereby we can ourselves purchase our salvation. It is a way to confess our total inadequacy before God, to strip ourselves bare of all pretenses to righteousness, to come before God in dust and ashes. It is a way to empty ourselves of our false pride, of our rationalizations that prevent us from seeing ourselves as needy creatures, of our "perfectionist" tendencies that blind us to the beam in our own eyes.

Through prayer, we seek to open ourselves up before God, and to hear anew the call "Come unto me!" We seek to recognize and respond afresh to God’s presence in our lives and in our world. We seek to place our needs, our fears, our failures, our hopes, our very lives in God’s hands, again. And we seek by abandoning ourselves in Jesus’ death to recognize again who God is, to allow His transforming grace to work in us once more, and to come to worship Him on Easter Sunday with a fresh victory and hope that goes beyond the new clothes, the Spring flowers, the happy music.

But it begins in ashes and it journeys though darkness. It is a spiritual pilgrimage that I am convinced we must make one way or the other for genuine spiritual renewal to come. I have heard the passage in 2 Chronicles 7:14 quoted a lot: ". . .if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." This usually is quoted in the context of wanting revival or renewal in the church, and the prayer is interpreted as intercessory prayer for others. But a careful reading of the passage will reveal that the prayer that is called for here is not intercessory prayer for others; it is penitential prayer for the faith community, for us. It is not to call for others to repent; it is a call for us, God’s people, to repent. It is our land that needs healed, it is our wicked ways from which we need to turn, we are the ones who need to seek God’s face.

Perhaps during the Lenten season we should stop praying for others as if we were virtuous enough to do so. Perhaps we should take off our righteous robes just long enough during these 40 days to put ashes on our own heads, to come before God with a new humility that is willing to confess, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." Maybe we should be willing to prostrate ourselves before God and plead, "Lord, in my hand no price I bring; simply to the cross I cling." That might put us in a position to hear God in ways that we have not heard Him in a long time. And it may be the beginning of a healing for which we have so longed.

O Lord, begin with me. Here. Now."

Researching this has been an eye-opening experience for me. I will go into this Easter Season with an attitude of renewal, humbly bowing before God and thanking him for my salvation. When I 'give up something for Lent' I will do it with an entirely different attitude, knowing that nothing I give up will come close to Jesus' giving his life for my sins. I will acknowledge this symbol of my commitment to Christ and use this period of self-denial and prayer to prepare and remind me of Christ's death on the cross and ultimately His ressurection at Easter, knowing that He lives.

I must confess that Easter has brought mixed emotions for me for the last 8 years. In 2000, my mother Mila died on Maundy Thursday and we buried her on the Saturday before Easter. Thursday-Saturday of Easter is a painful time for me. My heart is heavy, I miss my mother and feel an even stronger emptiness than I do throughout the year. Yet every year, on Easter God has given me peace & a sense of rejoicing like I haven't known in earlier years. I feel His presence even stronger. I know that His death was to save me from sin...my own. It is like the heavy black cloak on the cross is lifted and beautiful blue skies lie ahead, for He Has Risen! I can rest assured in the Lord that one day I will see my mother again..."I Can Only Imagine!"

In an attempt to conclude my ramblings on a lighter note- this is a Season of Celebration; a time to reflect, repent and praise the Lord for sending His Son.

I always enjoy a good party...So to kick things off I have chosen a basic pancake recipe that one might use to celebrate "Fat/Shrove Tuesday". It's a staple, of course. I have also added some variations on my favorite cocktail, The Mimosa.

Many Blessings and ENJOY!

Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday Basic Pancake Recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
PREPARATION:
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine egg and milk; add to flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Blend in melted butter. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until brown on one side and around edge; turn and brown the other side. Recipe for pancakes serves 4.

To add a little sparkle to your pancakes, I've included the basic Mimosa recipe and several variations that you might consider trying. Once you do, you may no longer be happy with the standard version, although it is very good, too.

A Mimosa is a cocktail recipe having two parts of thoroughly chilled orange juice combined with three parts champagne. It's just that simple, easy and delicious!
The basic Mimosa recipe was first created at a hotel in France about 1925. I do not know who invented it or even what the occasion was. It may have been the bartender was just experimenting.

Often the drink is served in a tall champagne flute, but I think you will want to use a large wine glass if you like ice in the drink (like I do) or if you are making the delicious Mama Mimosa (aka "Big Mama").
Traditional Mimosa
Ingredients:
Champagne
2 ounces of cold orange juice (fresh orange juice is a special treat)
Crushed ice (optional)

Instructions:
Pour champagne into a champagne flute
Add champage to fill the glass

*Garnish with a slice of orange or a strawberry if using a glass other than a flute
Occasionally I use crushed in wine glass and pour 3 parts of champage in the glass and then add 2 parts orange juice.

Variations of the Basic Mimosa Recipe
Add a tablespoon of Grand Marnier and you'll have created a Grand Mimosa...
Use cranberry juice instead of orange juice and you have created a Hibiscus or a Poinsettia
Use pink grapefruit instead of orange juice and enjoy a Lilosa
**My Personal Favorite is the PomPom or Pomosa...
Fill half of an 8 oz. champagne flute with Champagne and add another 4 oz of Pomegranate juice.
Garnish with a strawberry, orange or lime twist for a finishing touch.
Remember Pomegranate is a wonderful antioxidant...there's nothing like a little bubbly for your health ;-)

For a Mimosa with FLARE...
Take your traditional Mimosa recipe and add a delicate splash of an orange liquer topped with crushed raspberry ice - the MamaMosa or Big Mama

INGREDIENTS:
Champagne (1 Bottle)
Orange Juice (1 Bottle)
Orange Liquer
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
PREPARATION:
Fill half of an 8oz. glass with chilled champagne and add another 4 oz. of chilled orange juice, gently stir. Next add 1-2 tablespoons of orange liquer and mix thoroughly. For the final touch, add raspberry ice (for directions, see below) just before serving.
* Raspberry ice - crumble fresh raspberries and place the crumbles into ice cube trays, fill with water and freeze. Adds a very nice touch to any Mimosa!

**NOTE: I prefer using Prosecco(Italian sparkling)instead of champage for its sweeter, lighter flavor in all variations. You don't have to use an expensive champagne, Cristalino ($9), Cava ($12) or Zardetto ($14) make excellent mixers.