What's the deal with Mardi Gras

We deep dive into Mardi Gras and the goal of Fat Tuesday kindness that is often overlooked amid all the fun. We also discuss the Oscars...briefly. It was more than enough.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. Yes, it's party time. It is Fat Tuesday, a. k. a. Mardi Gras. And you know what today's episode is going to be titled? What's that, John? What's the deal with Mardi Gras? KG is traveling back from some far away place. He is going to be working the state high school hockey tournament. Yep, he's going to be I don't know if he's calling games or what he's doing, but. He's working. I think he's sharpening skates. It's a very busy time of the year for that lad counting sticks so we could oh, let me see here. Yep I brought you a gift for Mardi Gras. We're gonna talk about Mardi Gras. We're talking about Fat Tuesday today Steve brought a it looks like a very fancy cookie It's a highly decorated cookie and these colors represent things. Yes, they do and I bet you know what they represent. Don't you? We're going to get to that in just a second. We're going to get to that in a just a, just a symbol. I can't wait. Yeah. We're going to have to work on that. We're going to have to work on that. It's a decorated cookie. Well, here's the deal. Yeah. Fat Tuesday. Do you know a little bit about where the, where Mardi Gras comes from? I don't know a ton because I've never celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I know that it's a. Well, Mardi Gras It's a big, it's a big thing. It's not just a celebration that, that really is celebrated all over the world. Oh. North America's headquarters for Mardi Gras is in, uh, New Orleans. H. Q. Nolans. H. Q. Nolans, yes. And, um, Mardi Gras Is the culmination of something called Carnival. Mmm. You've probably heard of Carnival. Yes. That starts on January 6th. Okay, in Rio? De Janeiro. Is that the place where it's That's in Brazil. The other HQ? That's the HQ for, uh, for Carnival. That's bigger, right? Probably. Well, it goes on and on and on and it leads us to Fat Tuesday. In fact, Tuesday in French is Mardi Gras. And the idea behind Mardi Gras, for those of you godless heathens that don't know this, Mardi Gras is the day before the Lent season begins. Forty days of Lent leading up to Easter. And Lent is meant to be a time of, Sacrifice, suffering, I think it's internal, you know, yeah, you know, like it's internal thought, right? Yes, you know, you wanna, you wanna, uh, some penance for, there we go, the way that you've operated, we both obviously grew up Catholic, we did, the other 325 days of the year, yeah. Um, did I do that math that quickly? I don't know. 65 minus 4, 325? Wow. Well, there you go. Good education. Oh, good for you. Um, but Mardi Gras has, uh, grown into this, uh, this big fun parade time. And if you recall, Mardi Gras is a time when there's a lot of, uh, beads delivered. Yes. Down in New Orleans. Yes. And they're, um. It's turned into, like, the, you know, the. People show their body parts for beads, that's the big thing. But that's, that's kind of like a distortion of what, where it's, what it's really, the intention is not that. It's just, that's the party aspect of it. But there are, I read some stuff, there are three colors that represent Mardi Gras. Do you want to tell us what those colors are and what they mean? They have a meaning behind it. I know that, uh, shoot, hold on, hold on. Oh God, he's got to go to his notes. It's purple, gold, and green. Yep. And purple represents royalty. No? Justice. Justice Purple represents justice. Gold represents power. Yep. And green represents faith. So it's correct. Its, uh, justice, power, and faith. And so what does that have to do with this, John? Sounds like a good, uh, sounds like a, sounds like a what? I mean is it religious? Yeah, it's religious. I mean, but so yeah. It's justice, power, and faith. It is Christian. This is the, be the, the, the beginning of the, the most important Christian season. of the year, right? And it is. It's about joy. It's about community. It's about giving. It's about having a party before, before you kind of lock down and really kind of, you know, think. So you might be asking, why are we doing a lesson on Mardi Gras? What's the deal with Mardi Gras? Yeah. We want to talk about the, there is kindness that, uh, I found the same thing is part of the, uh, the Mardi Gras. Yeah. Experience and leading into Lent and more than you think more than you think. Yeah, Steve Why don't you tell us a little bit about that with your best radio voice? Well, I'm not gonna read all the stuff I have but it is the tradition. We have a lot of time It's a really long in root rooted in generosity community and giving it's a you know, the throwing the beads represents sharing of joy with others and and Uh, donating and giving to charity is a big part of it. It's a big, it's, it's all, and it's also about food and celebration. And like I said, joy and that's Mardi Gras specifically. Yes. It's the big, you know, fat Tuesday is, you know, load up on your carbs because tomorrow it's fishing and rice. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So what it is in my house, that's kind of, I mean, I have, that's a little kind of details. That's all you have. Well, I mean, I'm not going to read all that. Why not? There's a lot. We have a lot of time. It's just you and me. It's very dark in here. That's how we like it. Um, LA Let the Good Times Roll. Oh, that's kind of a theme of it. Um, uh, meal, they talk a lot about meals, free meals and community gatherings to strengthen, helping each other in, you know, helping crowds, helping each other in the crowd. Do you know what they call those groups of people? That what? That organize like, uh, a parade, float a crew. Oh, yeah, a crew. Yep. Yep. Yep. Um, there's like a band, you know, like K. R. E. W. K. R. E. W. No care care. Yeah. E. U. E. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, this isn't working. Well, I don't want to read this. I was just wanted to talk. I want to have stuff to maybe we should start over. No, I'm not starting over again. We're just talking about Mardi Gras talking about the kindness aspect of it. And I think it was interesting to find out that You know, it's not just about, it's about a party, but it's about, um, sharing and it's about giving and, you know, there's a lot of kindness involved. And you know, we've been promoting Oxytocin Day. Sure. And I kind of feel like maybe for Lent, instead of giving up something, maybe you should Do something as your penance for the way that you operate the other 325 days out of the year. So, for example, I just have to tell you, I just drove home from an appointment that I had, and the traffic was terrible. And, um, one, I'd call him gentleman, not really gentle. For whatever reason, decided to A driver? A fellow driver? A fellow driver. A motorist? Yep, he decided for some reason that he wanted to show me his middle finger. What?! And I swear to you, I have no What did you do? I don't know. What did you I don't know what I did. That happened to me too. That happened to me once. I think that maybe, you know You cut him off? The traffic was really bad. And I was in the left hand lane, but it wasn't going any faster than any other lanes, okay? And I think he might have been upset that I was in the left hand lane. Oh, I don't know well He was for sure don't be that guy don't be that guy because what what good did it do it caused? Irritation in you because you don't know why he did it And now everyone's tense, and it's raining, and now you're just driving home grumpy. And it's sleeting, actually. Yeah, it's kind of It's turning into sleet. We're about to have quite a snowstorm, which is a tradition of the, uh, hockey tournaments. Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Every year, it seems. It seems. Mid March. Just, and it's funny, John, because it always seems like we have a nice break in it, and the snow melts, and you start to get that sense, like we talked about the last show. You can almost smell it. You can feel and smell spring coming, and then All gone. Gone for a bit. Yeah. The rug's pulled out a little bit, but we know it's not over with, you know? There were golf courses that were promoting that they were going to be open on Friday. Why? They know. They've been around forever. You would think that they know. They don't. It is kind of an exciting time, though, because you do know it's, you know, it's spring is on the horizon. The hockey tournaments are exciting. That's where KG's at, right? We already talked about that? Yeah. Okay, did we? I can't remember. Was that in the first episode that we decided to tank? As you can tell we're not very prepared for today's program. Well, the snow I think is the problem. It's thrown us off a little bit. So we apologize. This might be one you just want to fast forward through. No, don't do it. I got a question for you. Let's talk about, let's talk about our, our Growing up Catholic. Yeah. With Lent coming. Yes. It doesn't really connect to our show, but you just mentioned giving up something You know and doing something rather than giving it so proactive Is that a is that does a Catholic Church promote that instead of giving up something for sacrificing starters? Did I give you the history of Mardi Gras on this particular doesn't connect with my question it eventually Okay, give it to me. So I'm just gonna it goes back to the listeners are dying. I know 1699 There was a French Explorer That came to the mouth of the Mississippi River. And he landed on Fat Tuesday at a point that he named Port du Mardi Gras. Wait. Okay, let me pause the story first. Was it already known as Fat Tuesday? Of course, yes. It's been Fat Tuesday for, for Before he, before he got there, there was a day called Fat Tuesday. Pope Gregory the 16th, I think it was. That's interesting, okay. He finally, he put it on the, uh, the official Uh, Catholic, Roman Catholic calendar. It's a Catholic, Roman Catholic day. It's a Roman Catholic day, but you know, many Christians also celebrate Lent. Yeah, of course. Um, as they should. You know, because most celebrate Easter. Most of the Christians that I know are what we call Cheesters. They go on Christmas and Easter. So, growing up, to answer your question, Um, you know, we, I lived in a family that, uh, on Lent. We went and we got the, uh, the ashes on the forehead. Yep. Um, kept him on all day, went to a public school during junior high and grade school, people made fun of me. That's rough. Don't be that guy. I went to Catholic grade school, so we all had it. Everybody was, everybody was marked. Some people had the big smudge, some people no smudge at all. Yeah, you know what's really funny? I think they do that on purpose. I think they do. I think that they look at you and go, this is, we're gonna, we're gonna make this one count. We're gonna get this kid really a good one. But how about, did you ever have any girls that you went to school with that would go in And lightly like fix it, fix it up. So it's, it's not such a smudge and it's just a very, like a little pencil cross on their forehead. I find that kind of sacrilegious. I think it's, I mean, it's, it's a, it's not a big deal, especially for kids, but, but I mean. It's, it's something you deal with when you start getting self conscious as a junior high person. Yeah. It's a little, yeah, it, if you got the big smudge and you don't not, you feel like you're torn because you don't want to have it on there because you want to just be normal and call attention to it. Anyway, let's go back to this. Did you ever go through a fat stage as a kid? I, I didn't really. You didn't? You've always been just handsome and trim. Well, I'm, I'm, you know, as I, as a 40, 50 year old man, it's, it's a constant battle to, to, to be. You're, you're well into your 50s, not a 40, 50 year old man. You're into your 50s. It starts at about 35 and you're like, Hey, yeah, what's going on here? You're doing everything that normally you normally do. And you start, I remember when I was in seventh grade, yeah. You had a little phase. I went through a, I think it was like leading up to puberty. I think that my body was holding on to all the pancakes. Do you know that fat Tuesday is also called pancake Tuesday? Is it really, it is like literally they call it. Like, you'll talk to some people down in New Orleans, and they refer to it as Pancake Tuesday. Really? Because that's the last day that, I mean, you're fattening yourself up. For the sacrifice. For the 40 days of sacrifice. Huh, okay. Back to what Lent was like for me. Yeah. So, Fridays were, uh, you know, it was all fish. Yep, no meat. Maybe mac and cheese, you know, if mom was feeling like she was in a good mood. Yeah, sometimes. But, you know, we would go to Jerry's. Remember Jerry's? In Maplewood? No, White Bear Avenue. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I mean, yeah. Yeah, I think that's My sister used to work at the restaurant there. At Jerry's? There used to be a restaurant in there. Well, my sister and my cousin both worked there. Remember? It was like a diner. Yeah, and they had the greatest onion rings in town. They did. We used to go there every once in a while. But they also had fantastic fried fish. Oh. And it was almost like all you wanted to do was eat the batter. Yeah. But my mom made me eat the fish part of it too. Ah. But Jerry's, oh my god. It was good. That place, it was so good. It's a restaurant within the grocery store. It's a dinette. No, you don't know what you're talking about. The Jerry's I'm talking about was not in a grocery store. The Jerry's I was talking about was on the corner of White Bear Avenue and Larpin Larpender, you're thinking of something different. Oh, Jerry's the, um Jerry's fried chicken. Oh, my mom and dad met there, yes. We talked about that. We did talk about that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. My sister worked at a Get your Jerry's straight. Jerry's Foods was also a restaurant. No, this is not the same. Off of White Bear Avenue. You're confusing. We used to go to White Bear Avenue, Jerry's, and get, uh, the fish. And of course, onion rings and, um, breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. Yeah, they did. My mom talks about that. Fantastic. Yeah. I'm sure my mom's listening. They met there and she told us a story right in this chair. She told us. She did. That is correct. Yes. Okay. So, Fat John, you had a Fat John story. Well, just that, I think that the onion rings and the fried, the fried fish, I think that we, you know, most people, cause they, they give up things during Lent. Yeah. Most people probably trim down a little bit. Yeah, I feel like it's connected to diet. Yeah. I kind of feel like the having to eat fish and not liking to eat fish the way that you're supposed to eat fish might have contributed to part of my, uh, my situation. Well, maybe. It, it, it was fish because meat was, uh, considered, uh, uh, uh, A luxury. A luxury back then. Well, and you know the, the, That's how it started. There's a belief. That the Catholic Church, because the Pope and back in the day, they were related to people that were selling fish. Conspiracy theory? let's push the fish. So my, uh, cousin, will sell the fish at the fish market. The point is the same, though. It's, it's, you're sacrificing something. You're not living high off the hog, you know, for the point of it. But what did you, typically as a kid, what did you give up on, on Lent? Well, for sure meat. You know, I always gave up meat. I know, but that's just something we all do. You know, I think it's, you're supposed to give up something like, I know Candy, or I think we always gave up candy. You know, I think I tried to give up chocolate and buy, you know, the, the second or third day I was sneaking it. Yeah. I'm not sure I ever really gave up anything. We out, we did TV shows. Confessions. Yeah. Yeah. TV shows or candy or as a kid I gave up watching the McNeil Lair report on PBS Yeah. It was, it was not a. It was not a fun phase, but it was kind of fun because when it ended, it was like, Ah, Easter, you could eat candy like crazy, and that was kind of the fun of it, right? That's true. How do we bring this back in about kindness? John, how do we, why don't you do that? How do we tie it? I'm hungry. I, I just think that I, I saw the connection between. Mardi Gras, which we think of in Minnesota as just people go down and it's like New Orleans. It's like the Vegas in New Orleans Yeah, I've been to New Orleans, but never during Mardi Gras and it's a it's a you could tell it's it's a party city I was there in the summer. It was kind of rank from the spring. Oh It is it's kind of it's a party but music. Yeah, the street the sidewalks or you've been New York City in the summer Yeah, there's a there's a there's a bake. Well now it smells like pot Anyway It's it's about it's about the joy of life and it's about celebrating and it's about giving a lot of there's a lot of Promotional things that happen a lot of community events for food and for community giving it is really a big deal That they they turn it into or they continued it to be something of giving and kindness and and that's not just about You know getting beads instead of giving something up we here at the kindness Chronicles podcast would like to suggest that you think about Doing something for Lent for Lent doing something positive, even if you're not Catholic, you know, let's let's just have this a phase of Whatever You know have a host a meal for someone that would be nice That's we talk about food all the time and and Mardi Gras about you know, you know food moon pies are really big Did you know that moon pies? I was looking for moon pies. I got cookie like little Debbie's some kind of like yeah Moon pies they throw them from the floats moon pies are big Did you know that it's against the law to be on a Mardi Gras float without a mask? Really? Against the law. Law? That's what I, I, so here's what I did. Yeah, give me more information. During, while I was in traffic, I was stopped. Yeah, getting flipped off. Maybe I got yelled at because I was on my phone. I put into YouTube, what's the deal with Mardi Gras? And one of the, the first videos that came up was, Mardi Gras for kids, ten things you need to know about Mardi Gras. That's where they, that's where I learned that fact. Okay. They didn't say anything about moon pies. I only got to like number one through about seven. So maybe eight, nine or 10 had something to do with moon pies. Yeah. I mean that's, again, we're, I, I don't celebrate, I haven't been down there during that and I know people that love it. They go down every year. They love. Yeah, it's a thing, you know, and I guess the hotel rooms are exceptionally expensive when you go down there during, uh, during the Mardi Gras season. It's like Mardi Gras,, on Fat Tuesdays, probably like New York City on, you know, New Year's Eve or it's kind of one of those things to be, it's a place to be. St. Patrick's Day in New York City or Boston. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So St. Patrick's Day is coming up pretty soon. Yeah. That has nothing to do with Mardi Gras, but it is. Coming up soon. It also ties in with about that. It ties in with you got your lens starting you get the hockey tournaments and you got St. Patrick's Day on the horizon and a snowstorm. We're really living the true Minnesota March. Did you ever go to the St. Patrick's Day parade? We should talk about this maybe closer to St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, let's let's hold that one. Let's put a pin in that conversation. We'll talk to uh, we'll talk about you. St. Patrick's Day later, but I think, I think we should remind everyone about Oxytocin Sunday. Yeah. And that would be when you get on to your, uh, social media device, uh, social media stuff and looking at your devices, try to get, try to change that algorithm and try to practice Oxytocin Sunday. Check out stuff that you don't normally, don't get stuck down that rabbit hole of, uh, ultimate fighting and you wait until someone gets bloody and beat up or whatever you're looking at. Try to focus on things that change your algorithm and bring back the, uh, the kindness and the goodness and compassion and put your self in the right frame of mind before you start it next week and get flipped off by people, you know? I've had a handful of people point out the fact that, they are practicing oxytocin. Is it working? We want to hear from you too, so. which is very nice. Send us something, send us a story about how it's working on your, uh, on our Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you guys. One of our finest listeners, Marty Rathmanner, dear friend, used to be a guest on the program. Um, he sent me a text and the text was, FYI, I listened to your podcast yesterday. This is the unreal guy, U N R L. And just so you know, it's not only a Minnesota company, he is from Mata Midi. Dun dun dun. That's what he said. Wow. You should read the article in golfer magazine because I'm guessing you get it because you're a member at Indian Hills. Michael Jordan is his name. Yeah. Solid name. Yeah. I, I was looking at, I didn't realize it's from Montimini, but um, what great looking clothes. It's really cool. And I think he's married to, you know the name Jim Boo? Yeah, Jim Boo is a realtor. Very, you know, realtor to the stars. Not as fancy as Marty Rathmann stars. But I think that Michael Jordan is married to Jim Boo's daughter. Really? Yeah, you know what? This is, people are learning more. I like that people are interacting. I like to hear from our listeners because you know, I don't get a lot of feedback every once in a while. A couple trickle in. You talk to everyone that, that listens. I like to hear, you know, send us something on social media that, give us a story about your Oxytocin Sunday. How it's going. Maybe it's not working. It's like, maybe you got some other ideas. I know some people have ways to completely delete your algorithm and start over, which is a kind of a cool idea too. Just get rid of it and you start over. So does that work? Like if you kill your, your Twitter account? Well, I don't kill it, but you can just clean it off and start over. Start looking at stuff you want to look at, you know? Do you think your phone is listening to you? Oh, I'm sure. I'm serious. Yeah. I was talking with a guy today about going to a particular event. Yeah. And I pulled up my calendar, and I typed in the first word. And there's no way that the next words would have come up had it not been for the fact that, uh, Our phones are listening to us. Our phones and, and whatever you search in, in a, in a Google search, as soon as, like, the next day, you'll see pop up ads for that, those types of things. Is that why people have VPNs? You ever heard of a VPN? Yes, yes. I don't know what that stands for. It's a, ah, shoot, um, I, I know because I used to, I used to access them all the time from Target. But, um, um. Very private network? It's something, yeah. Let's go with that. Private network. Very. Virtual, private, no, I don't know. I'd like to apologize for today's episode. Oh, We forgot to talk about the Oscars You know, KG's all, he's not with us again. He's just, he's such a very busy man on assignment on some kind of a hockey assignment. Yeah. We're happy for you, KG. Um, but I was really, I was very pleased with the Oscars and here's why. It didn't get political, really. I mean, there were a couple of moments where there were, you know, politics brought up. I thought Conan O'Brien is the, he's the best modern host. He's great. You know, I like Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes because it's a little looser. Yeah. Um, but I really do think Conan, Conan kind of reminds me a little bit of back when Billy Crystal used to do. The Oscars. I mean, it was light. He's so, he's great. The self deprecation is super fun. He did pull some jabs, but it was really light, kind of fun jabs, like showing their head shots and, you know, their senior photos and all that funny. It was great. And did you see his picture? Yes! I cannot believe that he would let that picture out in public. I've seen the photo before. It's just like red, bright red hair, bangs. Pulled right to the edge of his brows and like like a little channel bangs Like not even all the way across just like a channel bank like a channel bags and crazy teeth And yeah, it wasn't awkward kid, but he was a great host. I thought even a song was funny and it was great did you see the very beginning of the program the two gals from a wicked, wicked, yeah, that was fantastic. Yeah. Quite a display of singing. Like, uh, Oh my God. Are they talented? That, that, the, uh, Omarosa. No, not Omarosa. Omarosa. No, I'm not. It was a woman that was on the show with Trump. Sorry. I'm thinking of, uh, Albova. Albova. Albova. That's what I meant to say. Yeah. I don't know her, the actress's name, but wow. What a singer. Wow. What a voice. Here's what's so funny. So both she and, Ariana Grande have such pure voices. Incredible voices. This isn't very kind what I'm about to say, but they had the the three gals that did the James Bond songs not quite as good. Well the last one the last one brought it to another level ray ray is good She's really good, but it doesn't the best Expression of her your music. Yeah. No, she's really good. She's very good. Yes, but Just a totally differently. Yes more of a Broadway. They did more of a Broadway Elevated version of their I was hoping for Paul McCartney to sing live and let die. I was hoping for Sheena Easton, Sheena Easton, Sheena Easton saying for your eyes only. Don't you remember that? Yeah. Oh God. Well, Duran Duran of you to a kill. Yeah. How about, uh, uh, Adele? Well, that's what Ray saying is, um, skyfall. That was a good one. Yeah. Have you ever how about Billie Eilish? She did the, I think one of the most recent, uh, No Time to Die. Yeah. So good. She's great. She's, I, she might be one of my favorite artists right now. She's a great singer because she, uh, she's sort of timeless and she's not going to burn out. she's not a pop star. She's just incredibly talented person, artist. Yeah, she's an artist and what's her what's her brother's name Fergus or something like this Phineas Phineas. Yeah, Phineas is talented He's really talented. Yeah, On behalf of the Kindness Chronicles, uh, KG is the reason that this show just did not work out. Well, we also, You gave us some great information about Mardi Gras. We talked a little about Lent, and uh, you know, I think there's, you know, go out there and be kind, and uh, you know, enjoy, uh, Enjoy the snow and we're going to save you from listening to us for any more time on this and, uh, and off we go.