Brazil, Italy, New Orleans and beyond · cultural
The Tuesday before Lent — the last feast before forty days of fasting.
2026: February 17, 2026 · 2027: February 9, 2027
Carnival is the season before Lent and Mardi Gras — “fat Tuesday” — is its last day. The name probably comes from carne levare, “to put away meat”. The logic is simple and domestic: the eggs, fat and sugar in the house had to be used up before the fast, which is why so many countries eat pancakes or doughnuts on the same day under different names.
A holiday that exists because of what comes next. The feast and the fast are one shape, not two.
What a family can actually do
Pancakes. Then ask what the house is giving up for the next six weeks.
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