New Britain herald., 1917-02-26

through the lanes of kaleidoscopic crowds, ebbins and flowing, seething with life.
 Some idea of what the Carnival is may be sleaned from the simple fact that fourteen mammoth organizations, each independent in itself, set out every year to put forth parade. a tableau or a ball in connection with the festivities. That ts their sole ain, and purpose. Their main effort Is to eclipse, if possible, the gala events that were arranged the year previous. And the history of the Mardi Gras bears out the fact that every year new zest has been imbued into the spirit of the thing. Each year the Mardi Gras sports new feature.
 From all over the country,-some say from all over the earth,-men and women wend their way to the Mardi Gras. Like the pilgrims of old were wont to plod their weary way to Jerusalem there to do pen
 
 and ashes, the modern pilgrims gala want into the "City That Care For got" and drown themselves in the tumultuous flood of pleasure.
 Notwithstanding the fact that one sees no sack cloth and ashes at the Carnival, nevertheless 1t Is an affair of religious origin. The terms Mardi Gras and Carnival at this late date have become in some measure in- terchaneable terms. Translated, Martii Gras means Fat Tuesday" It is called by various other names. as Pancake Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday. or before Ash Wednesday. the begin ming of Lent.
 The two weeks or ten days proceed ing this season is the Carnival. of which Mardi Gras Is the last day. As Ash Wednesday Is movable feast. the date of which is always calculated according to rigid rules laid down by canonical law enacted at the Council of Nice. Carnival and Mardi Gras naturally fall within this Jurisdiction and the date varies anywhere from the first of February to early and sometimes late April.
 Strange as 1t may seem. although the Carnival was a function of the Early Christian Church. it's origin has tn hA them it was the period set aside to celebrate the death Of Winter and the birth of Spring. At these festivi- ties. grossest excesses were oft-times indulged in by the celebrators many of whom gave up tho ghost in their drunken 'stupor. The Greeks and Romans carried on their bacchana- Han revelry and debauchcry In honor of Bacchus, the god of wine, and Of Pan, the god of herds and nocks. In the minds of the superstitious, the Pipes of Pan are the echoes of these festivities.
 The present day carnivals. however. the ones similar to those held at New Orleans and Havana. smaek of no such abandonment as found in the environs of early organism. The Car nival as presented at New Orleans Is more properly the time of meat of mirth, melody, feasting, and frolic, tum of the early Christian Church which decreed the time when Lent should begin. AS such it may be traced to the religious ceremony of confession.
 It was the custom of our fore fathers in religion to make solemn avowals of their shortcomings on Shrove-Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.- Tha word shrove Tuesday, or Shrovettde comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Sacri- fan" which means to shrive, or to confess. After making the avowal, which always took place in early was then given over to merry making. This, in the Latin coun- tries.
 Since New Orleans was first settled by the French, and its early destinies directed and guided Jointly by them and their Spanish brethren, it natu. rally followed that they should trans plant the customs and observances of the Latin races. of which they were part We of the modern universe owe debt of gratitude for this service, for of all the ceremonies, customs or traditions that have been brought out of the Old World and transplant ed to thrive anew in modern set ting, the Mardi Gras and the Car nival are the most picturesque and inviting. While there are few, either residents or visitors, who remem Der to observe the religious duty attendant
 upon the day, still the vast majority