Mardi Gras is a big deal in Haiti. Mardi Gras, in French means “Fat (gras) Tuesday (mardi)”. Fat Tuesday is always celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday which is the start of the Lenten season. The Lenten season is the seven-week period leading into Holy Week and Easter which commemorates the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Many Christians abstain from eating certain foods during the Lenten season (also know as “fasting”) in order to discipline themselves for the purpose of introspection. This time of introspection prepares the heart to receive the great joy and blessing of Jesus’s ultimate victory over death in his resurrection that is celebrated on Easter. This means that for seven-weeks, starting on Ash Wednesday, people cannot eat whatever they want; they cannot indulge. Fat Tuesday, then, is the last chance to indulge, hence the name “Fat Tuesday”. Mardi gras is a time to give into unhealthy impulses; it is at time to let it all hang out. It’s a time to satisfy your desires.
In a way, Mardi gras attests to the fact that many people do not understand Christianity. Mardi gras grows out of the idea that Christianity is all about denying what we want. This makes us think that God is the one who smacks our hand every time we go to another cookie from the cookie jar; that God is the mean uncle who doesn’t let us have any fun.
Contrary to the message of Mardi gras, Christianity isn’t about refusing people their desires, it’s about transforming our desires. The Christian life isn’t about never getting to do what we want and being miserable until we eventually make it to heaven. Christianity is, however, about making us entirely new people so that our desires change. Outside of Jesus, we want that which is self-destructive. Our impulses, our desires, and our passions are lethal. When we enter into a relationship with Jesus through the forgiveness of sins and deliverance from the power of sin, our very nature becomes regenerated. We experience a rebirth. For Christians, Mardi gras should be a celebration of giving to the poor, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and liberating the captives. These are the sort of things that bring true and lasting joy to the heart that’s been transformed.
You see, this is what Holy Week is all about. This is what Jesus’s death and resurrection is all about. Jesus put to death the old desires and impulses that are lethal, and through his resurrection, he raises us to new life so that we can share in his passions and desires which lead to eternal life.
