Mardi Gras - For Born Again Believers or Not?

Should Believers Celebrate Mardi Gras? (AI generated image)

Mardi Gras is commonly portrayed as a harmless cultural celebration with parades, beads, indulgence, and revelry preceding a season of religious reflection. Yet when examined through the lens of Scripture and history, Mardi Gras is deeply troubling.

“Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday.” It is the final day of feasting and indulgence before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and penitence leading up to Easter (excluding Sundays).

The logic of Mardi Gras is simple: Indulge fully in sin and then confess afterward.

This pattern of sin now, repent later is itself incompatible with Biblical repentance, which calls for turning away from sin, not scheduling it. Mardi Gras is a modern expression of an ancient rebellion, one that Scripture repeatedly exposes and condemns. When the church adopts pagan rhythms, even with Christian language attached, it risks repeating the very sins that led Israel into judgment.

The celebration is part of the broader European tradition of Carnival, which emerged in medieval Roman Catholic societies (France, Italy, and Spain) as a period of feasting, masquerade, and social reversal, intentionally preceding a period of ritualized fasting and penitence (Hutton, 1996). Early Christian texts do not prescribe such festivals; the first-century church did not observe Mardi Gras, and Scripture never mandates a season of indulgence followed by ritualized repentance. The Biblical pattern calls for continuous holiness, repentance, and obedience, not cyclical indulgence.

The first North American Mardi Gras on record occurred in 1699 near present-day New Orleans by French explorers. The first official, organized Mardi Gras celebration in America took place in Mobile, AL in 1703. This was a full community celebration, predating New Orleans’ famous festivities.

Since Mardi Gras is a celebration and then repentance leading up to Easter, I can’t really discuss one without briefly discussing the other because they tie together.

The linguistic and historical roots of Easter illustrate a critical point between culture and Christian observances. The Venerable Bede (c. 673–735), in De Temporum Ratione (written 725), records the following which is cited by many encyclopaedias:

“Eosturmonath, which is now interpreted as the Paschal month, was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honored name of the old observance.”

From this source we see that Easter is derived from the old English month of Eosturmonath - Eostre being the name of the goddess (according to Bede) and monath being month or “Eoster’s month”. He explicitly states that “now they designate THAT Paschal (Passover) season by her name… a new rite by the time- honored name of the old observance.”

Bede states very plainly that the very season when Jesus was crucified as the Passover lamb (paschal) is now called by the older established name of a fertility goddess named Eostre or modernly - Easter. So, that’s where the modern name that is used comes from. Biblically that is not the name for the season. It is Biblically called Passover!

Her name (Eostre) was also associated with “dawn” or “to shine,” reflecting spring, rebirth, and renewal (Bede, 725; Bosworth & Toller, 1898). While no archaeological evidence of Eostre’s cult survives, Bede’s account is widely regarded as credible, and absence of evidence does not disprove the historical plausibility of localized seasonal observances. Ancient Germanic and other European societies consistently celebrated spring with festivals linked to agricultural fertility, the renewal of life, and the birthing of animals — practices sometimes involving sexual rites and symbols of reproduction (Hutton, 1996; Eliade, 1987). Eggs and hares, later associated with Easter, were longstanding fertility symbols in these cultures.

Ancient Near Eastern cultures also practiced fertility-oriented religion. The Mesopotamian deity Tammuz was mourned in seasonal lamentations, reflecting agricultural cycles of death and rebirth (Kramer, 1961). Alongside “weeping for Tammuz”, the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel condemn Israel for worshiping the “Queen of Heaven” and for participating in fertility rites and child sacrifice (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17–25; Ezekiel 8:14–16). These scriptural accounts confirm that seasonal fertility worship, including sexualized rituals and offerings to false deities, was prevalent in the ancient world. The pattern of indulgence, lamentation, and ritualized devotion is therefore deeply rooted in human history, yet consistently opposed by God.

The Roman Catholic Church itself acknowledges that, as Christianity spread into pagan regions, it sometimes adapted existing cultural festivals, symbols, and calendars to make the faith more accessible (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913). Examples include Christmas, timed with winter solstice celebrations, and All Saints Day, aligned with harvest or pagan death festivals. Visual motifs such as halos or sun rays in Christian iconography were adapted from earlier sun-deity representations, providing symbolic continuity while redirecting veneration toward Christ and the saints (Onians, 1982; Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913). They saw these adaptations as practical, but they illustrate how human cultural patterns can persist in Christianized forms.

Mardi Gras reflects a similar human pattern: indulgence in food, drink, and licentious behavior is socially sanctioned for a brief period before a season of enforced fasting and repentance. While culturally accepted in some societies, for a born-again believer, this cycle is not Biblical. Scripture exhorts continuous self-control, holiness, and repentance (Romans 6:1–2; 1 Peter 1:15–16). The prophets’ condemnation of fertility cults and false seasonal worship remains relevant: God does not approve of rituals that normalize indulgence and then attempt to cleanse it ceremonially.

Observances like Mardi Gras, by celebrating fleshly excess and social revelry, fall outside the framework of Biblically mandated worship.

In summary, historical, linguistic, and archaeological evidence demonstrates that ancient cultures practiced springtime fertility rites tied to agricultural cycles, human reproduction, and symbolic rebirth. Bede records the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre in this seasonal context, and Roman Catholic adaptation of pagan festivals illustrates the persistence of human cultural forms within Christian ritual. Mardi Gras continues the same pattern of indulgence followed by ritualized penitence. While culturally prominent, it is not a Biblical practice for born-again believers and should be approached critically in light of Scripture’s consistent call to holiness and obedience.

I personally CHOOSE not to celebrate Mardi Gras and that includes the parades- even the “family friendly” ones - because that is celebrating to me.

Choose wisely in all things!

Leisa

References

• Bede. (725). De Temporum Ratione (The Reckoning of Time), Chapter 15.

• Bosworth, J., & Toller, T. N. (1898). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford University Press.

• Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). “Christmas,” “All Saints Day,” “Halo.” New York: Robert Appleton Company.

• Eliade, M. (1987). The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Harcourt Brace.

• Hutton, R. (1996). The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press.

• Kramer, S. N. (1961). Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C. Harper & Row.

• Onians, J. (1982). Art and the Roman Viewer: The Transformation of Art from Paganism to Christianity. Phaidon Press.

• World Book Encyclopedia. (1972). “Mardi Gras,” “Carnival,” “Lent,” “Easter.”