Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras' traditional purpose, to release energy and indulge before the fasting of the Catholic Lenten season, is at its core a clash with Puritan ideals which essentially advocate a kind of life-long Lent. It’s silly to write of the contemporary Carnival season in relation to Puritan principles, so ignoring the current form of the holiday and focusing on the celebration’s religious intent, the Atlantic seems like an even wider gap between stringent colonists and the French. The above mentioned release would have been completely absurd in a Puritan society. However exaggerated The Crucible may have been, it’s safe to say that open revelry was at least discouraged if not condemned by the Puritans. This kind of discipline is shattered by Mardi Gras even in its earliest form, when aristocrats on horses threw candy to people lining the streets as they danced to bards and small bands. But this festival was extremely popular, further isolating the restraint exercised by the Puritans. This, along with the witch hunts intended for any deviation from society discussed in class, prove the obedience demanded by the religion to have been too great, too suppressive. One God, in the American colonies, demanded the solemn worship the Puritans practiced, while across the pond a New Testament God in France was much more generous and tolerant. This being the very indulgence they tried to escape, it’s difficult to imagine Puritans would do anything except condemn each and every one of us. Lez le bonne temp rouler. Avec Deiu.