Hypocrisy on Bourbon Street

Every year, I am alternately fascinated and perplexed by Mardi Gras. I’m from an old Cajun family, and it’s always been a deep tradition. But I’ve never been to New Orleans. As a lifetime Houstonian, I’ve only ever been to the much smaller celebration on Galveston Island.  Why? Why, as a Cajun and Catholic, have I never been to Mardi Gras?

Okay, so I never actually made the decision to go or not go. My mom wasn’t going, and therefore, I was not going either. But I still saw all the news stories and caught all the headlines. Even from the perspective of a ten-year-old, the pictures and music and throngs of people looked like a good time. I didn’t understand why we never went. I even understood why Mardi Gras was happening from my Catechism classes. It was always right before Ash Wednesday, which was the start of the Lent season when I would give up some arbitrary item to indicate my lack of attachment to the physical world and focus on my spiritual health.

Enter the celebration of Mardi Gras. To prepare for this forty-day sacrifice,  everyone heads down to New Orlens to indulge themselves.  Therefore, since I would also be participating in Lent, I should also attend this celebration. Thus  completing the logical reasoning of my ten-year-old self.

As I grew older, I realized how deluded my reasoning was. Mardi Gras appears to have lost most of its religious context. It has turned into a reason for people of all denominations to fill the streets of New Orleans and engage in a weekend full of indulgence for no apparent reason.

I don’t so much mind that that’s what has become of Mardi Gras. If it attracts huge crowds and is good for business, go for it by all means. What bothers me is that it’s still called Mardi Gras and maintains a connection to the Catholic church. Catholics began as a minority in this country, and they’ve shared in the same difficulties as other minorities. And now Mardi Gras, a preparation for one of their most holy holidays, has strayed so far from its original purpose to include people who have never set foot in a Catholic mass.  That’s my real problem, I guess. If you’re going to celebrate Mardi Gras, you don’t have to Catholic. Just be reverent and respectful of it as a tradition and understand the sacrifices that were made to get it to such a nationally accepted status.