I am reprising a blog entry I wrote last year just before Mardi Gras.

 Okay, so it is French. And we all know that Mardi Gras is coming. Right?

Anyway, Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez translates literally into Leave the Good Times Roll . I don’t remember every celebrating a real Mardi Gras – real in the bead-throwing/bead-collecting, alcohol drinking, breast baring way. So here are the childhood memories I have of Mardi Gras – almost all having to do with religion lessons.

Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday – is the Tuesday before a large number of Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday which is the start of the Lenten season. Lent is the 40 day period leading up to the resurrection and rising of Jesus Christ.

I was raised Episcopalian. Our church would have a huge all-you-can-eat pancake supper on Fat Tuesday. I have memories of going to it many years…