February 13, 2024, is Mardi Gras, also called “Fat Tuesday” or “Carnival” and is the day before Ash Wednesday which begins Lent (Sidenote: Lent has a pretty freaky history itself, particularly Lent in Medieval Rome.).
It is a holiday known around the world for its extravagant costumes, raucous atmosphere, over-the-top parade floats, and of course the debauchery. Booze and sex are the fuel that this festival runs on. The free-flowing alcohol, unbridled gluttony, and a sex-charged environment have made New Orleans, Louisiana famous as a Mardi Gras hub for the United States and beyond.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is the site of another famous carnival. However, there are cities all over the country that give at least a nod to the festival.
Every year people from all over the world flock to New Orleans throughout the “Carnival season” which begins on the 12th day after Christmas and runs up to Mardi Gras. Then Lent is 40 days from Mardi Gras to easter which is on the first Sunday after the first full moon that is on or after the first day of spring (March 21).1
Sound confusing? It is.
The Sordid History of Mardi Gras
The tradition of Mardi Gras goes back thousands of years with several pagan festivals that center around fertility and spring. This includes Lupercalia (Valentine’s Day. Sidenote: Comes from lupercus, the young naked rurnner10), Kalendae Ianuariae (New Year11) and Saturnalia (Christmas).3, 4
These early Romans celebrated their pagan festivals by putting on masks, dressing up in elaborate costumes, and indulging in the various desires of the flesh, giving themselves over to Bacchus, the god of wine, and Venus, the goddess of love as they engaged in bacchanal – you might be more familiar with its modern term, “orgy.”2
When “Christianity” emerged in Rome, pagans began converting to Catholicism but were very reluctant to do away with their pagan roots.2 Basically, they wanted to eat at two table and the religious powers that be accommodated them. The Catholic church made the decision to combine Christianity with the pagan traditions that were so popular with the locals. The claim was that it was easier to marry the pagan and Christian traditions than it was to forbid or abolish them.
So, they give the festival a “good Catholic name,” Fat Tuesday and married the pagan and Christian traditions (which by the way were already slipping, moving away from the biblically appointed feasts of the Lord).
Instead of the Christians cleaning up the pagan festival to make it holy, they succumbed to the sex and excess, and oh, let’s not forget the nudity, that it’s known for. And those pagan traditions merged with Christianity and have kept Christians in bondage to the world for centuries.
As Christianity spread to England, Germany, France, Spain, and other European countries, so did the perverse pagan traditions.5 In 1702, the first Mardi Gras was celebrated in America – in Mobile.5 At the time, Mobile was part of the Louisiana territory and was later part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1718, New Orleans was established and by 1730 the people of the city were openly celebrating Mardi Gras.
The early 1740s saw the Louisiana governor giving Mardi Gras an elevated status with decadent society balls. A tradition that is still seen today. By the 1830s, the people of New Orleans had taken their revelry to the streets and all the vices of the world followed.
And you couldn’t tell the difference between the pagans and the Christians. They all looked exactly the same.
What Happened?
When Christians, believers, play around with pagan traditions, those traditions will infect them. The spirits of perversion, sexual immorality, fornication, gluttony, drunkenness and more are the lords of these traditions.
And they want to be worshipped. They don’t care how they get that worship, they just want it. So if they can lure believers into participating in the traditions that they are lords of, they are receiving that worship – EVEN WHEN THE BELIEVER THINKS THEY ARE DOING IT FOR YEHOVAH OR WITH YEHOVAH’S APPROVAL.
They think that Yehovah has sanctified the pagan traditions, but He will not sanctify what He has deemed to be an abomination unto Him.
29 When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deuteronomy 12:29-31
30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
You can’t christianize pagan traditions – Yehovah commanded it.
Still, they think that THEY can sanctify those days by “making it all about Jesus.” Problem is, they don’t have the authority to do that. And when they try they are putting themselves above God, making themselves their own god.
Now their own desires have become their idols. Their traditions (which Yehovah considers to be an abomination) have become their idols.
THEY have become their own idols.
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Jeremiah 10:2
Your intentions don’t matter. Your opinion doesn’t matter. Your desires don’t matter.
You cannot turn a pagan tradition – or a collection of pagan traditions – into something about Yehovah. No matter what you do, the spirit is still there. The perversion, drunkenness, and evil is still inherent in those festivals.
And everything you participate you is opening doors to your spirit for those things to walk right through. You become a pagan Christian.
Breaking Down the Pagan Traditions
Drunken, sex-fueled parties in the streets are a big part of the Mardi Gras celebration. Beads are currency and women willingly lift their tops and expose themselves to get the best beads (from the ceremonial nudity that was prevalent in many pagan festivals and rituals). Even on the street, as parade floats go by, women expose themselves to get the best throws.
Alcohol and nudity are a bad combination – and no way for a believer to act. It is all of the world that we have been called out of. But those things do bring to the forefront the pagan roots of fertility festivals.
This “Fat Tuesday” is the last party day before Lent starts which means deprivation of meat, sex, and other “vices” for the Lenten Season. The last hurrah, if you will.6
But there’s more.
The King Cake – It is taken from the pagan tradition associated with Saturnalia. Bakers would make a cake and put a fava bean inside. The fava bean was believed to have spiritual significance. It was also how they voted.8
The man who found the bean would become the “sacred king” of the tribe for the term of one year. He would be treated like a king for a year, then at the end of his “term,” he would be sacrificed so that his blood would be returned to the earth. This ensured a successful harvest.8
Christians who adopted the pagan practices switched the bean with a plastic “baby Jesus” and continued the bloody, unholy pagan tradition. A baby, a bean, it’s all the same. It’s all about divination and seeking prosperity outside of God Almighty.
And the sacrifice made at the end of the “king’s” term was no longer physical, but spiritual – and far more detrimental.
Mardi Gras Masks – The Mardi Gras masks are another staple of the celebration and are not as innocent as they seem. The pagan festivals in Rome that are the roots of Mardi Gras were steeped in fornication and sexual perversion fueled by alcohol – lots of alcohol.
These festivals were a no holds barred, no rules time for the participants to engage in all the pleasures of the flesh that they normally refrained from. This included sexual liberties that were not socially accepted normally.
They would honor Bacchus by engaging in bacchanal which is a drunken orgy. And the masks were used to hide the identity of the individuals (and their inhibitions). They could participate fully while being completely anonymous. All of this is still seen today and Christians are right there living it up, openly participating without giving a single thought that by doing so they too are honoring, THAT THEY ARE WORSHIPPING, the god Bacchus.2
And no amount of denying it will change it.
Parades – Processions were very common in the pagan festivals, particularly in ancient Rome. The most basic and probably most common is the sacrificial procession where the participants and actors go on a sacrifice walk with the person or animal that they were going to sacrifice as well as the implements or tools that they would use.
The Roman pompa circensis is another procession that was done during that time, on their way to the games at Circus Maximus. It included dancers, musicians, images of the gods, and more. Basically, it was a ritualistic parade that honored the gods they served and often were incorporated into their worship.10
Should Christians Celebrate Mardi Gras?
Christians, believers, have no business celebrating Mardi Gras just as they have no business celebrating the other pagan traditions. Aside from the fact that Yehovah has forbidden His people from practicing pagan traditions, you don’t want to open those doors.
If you are participating in Mardi Gras in any way, you are taking up the ways of the heathen – which is what we are not to do. You are essentially a PAGAN CHRISTIAN.
Yehovah gave us His feasts and Sabbaths. That should be enough.
You can’t be holy if you are involved in the celebration of sexual immorality, drunkenness, perversion, and fornication. It just doesn’t work. You can’t eat at two tables. You can’t serve two masters.
If you are engaged in these pagan traditions, it’s time to decide who you will serve.
Because you can’t serve both.
Read More:
The Bible Forbids “Christianizing” Pagan Traditions
The Truth of Tradition
What the Bible Really Says About Christmas, Birthdays, and Pagan Traditions
The Spiritual Side of Christmas (the stuff santa doesn’t want you to know)
Sources:
1 Census.gov
2 ROG.org
3 History.com
4 HistoryDefined.net
5 MardiGrasNewOrleans.com
6 History.com
7 MentalFloss.com
8 CamelliaBrand.com
9 Britannica.com
10 Oxfordre.com
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