on the Christian calendar. It’s also Valentines’ Day. Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, which means Mardi Gras in French. Both are the precursor of the 40 day fasting period called Lent. Fat Tuesday was so named because people would load up on food on that day. It was the day before the 40 day fast began so naturally you’d want to stock up on food if you were going to starve for more than a month. In Ireland they call it Shrove Tuesday. The Irish still make pancakes with eggs and milk to use up all the dairy products before the fast. Wikipedia tells us that Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France’s claim on the territory of Louisiane. This included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and part of eastern Texas. Mobile, Alabama was the first capital of French Louisiana in 1702. The first Mardi Gras celebrations were held there in 1703.
It’s Valentine’s Day
I don’t want to turn this into a history lesson, but I did find this on the USA Today website when I was looking for the meaning of Ash Wednesday. “Ash Wednesday dates back to the 11th century, according to the Vatican, but the tradition of marking one’s forward? with ashes is rooted in the ancient Hebrew custom of “clothing oneself in sackcloth and dusting oneself with ashes as a sign of penance,” according to Hallow, an app for Christian and Catholic prayer and meditation.” How long before the Bible itself is replaced by an app, that by the way, can’t even discern the difference between forehead and forward. It may have been sloppy journalism or God forbid, AI. That’s all we need a religion app that rewrites the holy scrolls in the way it thinks they should be.
God is now a subscription service. You’re welcome.
That’s enough of that. Yesterday it snowed quite a bit, but it was mostly melted by the afternoon. I got out the old snowblower and carved a path down the sidewalk from the corner to four houses down. Feels great man. I have been going through all the extra recordings that I found that I had forgotten about, and I think I probably have two albums worth, plus another album of instrumental music. I fact I probably have five albums worth of instrumental music, but that can stay where it is for now.
Interesting necklace. Was this a Hebrew thing?
Last night I watched a documentary about Sinéad O’ Connor. She comes across as somewhat unhinged at times. In 2017 she posted a video (below) from a motel from what she called “the arse end of New Jersey” saying she was “suffering from suicidal tendencies and three mental illnesses.” Perhaps if she hadn’t torn up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live, she might have still had a decent career after that? Oh well, she made her bed, and she had to lie in it. What can you do? Poor girl needed help. Oh, yes it’s Valentine’s Day too. That originated as a Christian feast day (again with the eating) honoring a martyr named Valentine, who was persecuted by the Romans in the 3rd Century. You can look that up. I don’t have time. Happy Valentine’s Day, you know who you are.