The Burke County news. [volume] (Morganton, N.C.) 1899-1901, 1899-02-24
When Feast Days and Fast Days
Are Numerous.
HE EXPLAINS MARDl GRAS
II q Tells About Ash Wednesday and
Forty Days Afterward Genes Easter
Other Fast Days

!, About this time Of the year there are
20 many feast days aud fast days aud
days dedicated to tho saints that it
keeps me busy studying the books 90
Is to be ready to e1p'ain them to the
children. Our numerou. posterity
have iuquiriug minds aud had rather |
would tell them than to study them
out for themselves. It mortI6es my
pride # they ask me historical or alb
struso questions that [ caunot answer.
aud 80 [ try to keep ahead aud main
tain my reputation for wisdom a. did
Go'dsmith's schoolmaster whose pupils
wondered chow one small head could
carry all it knew"
Now they want to know about St
Valentine and St. Patrick aud mardi
gras aud Ash Wednesday,, and 50 | had
to explain how it was that st. Va!en-
tines day and Shrove Tuesday. or
mardi gras day, came together this
year. an5 how the first was fixed, but
the other was movable because Easter
was. And [ had to tell them how St.
Valentine was q Christian martyr who
WAS beheaded in the third century,
aud he was such q good. kind, lov.u.
! man that he was after wards cauOulZed
aud enrolled among the 50 uts and a
day set apart to hls memory. It was
/, believed in the 0 den time that the
birds mated on that day, aud SO 1t vas
the custom for youn: PEOPLE t. choose
their sweethearts aud send loving let
ters to each other. They dout do that
now to any alarming extent. but send
the most ridiculous rud hateful pic.
! tNr0a on6 hUrf fool,n ~ .kn.| e .,~l
ing love, and | know that the good
SAINT is gr,eved and mortified about 1t.
Mardi graz day is near 1T hand and
the railroads have advertised cheap
schedules to New Orleans, for that Is
the only city in the United States where
the French and Italians aud creules are
numerous enough aud foolish enough
to perpetuxte this idiotic carnival.
Mardi means Mars, the god Of war. aud
gras means fat. In French 1t Is called
bocut gras, or a fat OF. In English it
meaus Il fat Tuesday. In the Roman
Catholic calendar it is called Shrove
Tuesday. These names Of fat Mars.
fat OK and fat tuesday all come from q
custom Of the butchers IN Venice who
ON the day before Lent selected the
finest, largest and fattest OK they could
find nud dressed HIM up in a fancy
costume AMI bedecked him with flowers
and set q little boy GU his back und leo
him through the streets with banner
waving aud drums beating aud children
shouting aud following along just like
our boys and negroes follow the band
wagon of q circus nowadays. Some
say that the butchers started this
parade to let their customers know
they wouldent have any more meat for
forty days and SO they had better ent a
good deal that day and that the fat OK
would DO slaughtered at noon for q
banquet that night From this ,suo.
ble beginning the annual celebration
OF Shrove Tuesday grew and grew into
. great trc!'c by day and re-olry by
night. and as :ue display was MOI
magnificent IN Venice than in anv othe,
city 1t was called the carnival OF Venice,
Now. clildren. you must know that
the word carnival Ia a Latin word and
means farewell to flesh" for the mex,
day was the beginning Of Lent, and nc
flesh was to be eaten for forty days.
The hrst day of Lent was called Ash
Wednesday because tho priests hum
bled the rcople by throwing ashes on
then fOreheads. the ashes are nixed
with something that makes them stick
tor q while. 1t is an Old thu,
came down from the Jews. Tie da,
before Lent ls called Shrove Tuesday
because on that day the church peopi,
gathered IN the churches aud protested
renltehcs and were striyen or shroy.
or absolved from their SINS by til,
priests. THIS was done eary 10 Ia.
morning aud they felt so good and st
secure Of salvation that they dance,
and uraCced aud feasted aui froilcse.
with grea, h~ilnrlty a1d many OF then
joined In the marll Sras or carniva
: aud cut up scanisious. Well. mayb
il we Protes.arts believed that on
preachers could absolvs Us from I'll