Fat Tuesday

Katrina-soaked New Orleans got drained and dried just in time to get back to business as usual for its annual Mardi Gras parade and the ensuing merriment that soaks the city in booze and vomit before drying out--once again-- for Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent)!

And there's the King of Proteus now (up there in the pic), ready to get the party started!

The pagan revelries are in the spirit of the "last hurrah" inherent in the very meaning of "carnival," which can be etymologically broken up into the Middle Latin carne vale, which is literally translated into "'flesh, farewell."

That referred to the imminent fast, an imminency that inspired one last fat feast at the final 24-hour countdown before one self-denied the appetites until Easter.

And henceforth--Republicus presumes-- grew the tradition of college boys and girls going wild and engaging in all sorts of sexual cannibalism and other fleshy festivities before saying goodbye to all that and becoming Roman Catholic Lenten penitents!

At least until Spring Break...