In any event, once Christianity arrived, Roman pagan celebrations were absorbed into the religious calendar. The carnival practices in Rome continued within the framework of the Church. The masked balls of Venice were especially renowned in Renaissance Italy and spread to France and England. In France, they were called les bals des Rois for the kings who presided over the masked merrymaking. Whoever found a coin or a bean in a piece of special “king cake” (named for the Three Kings of the nativity) was named king for thenight. From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ~ Matthew 4:17 Bratcher, Dennis (7 January 2010). "The Season of Lent". Christian Resource Institute . Retrieved 25 June 2016. Wilks, Jon (28 February 2022). "Customs uncovered: Pancake Day and Shrove Tuesday". Tradfolk . Retrieved 28 February 2022.

Mardi Gras Dates". Nutrias.org. 30 January 2009. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015 . Retrieved 28 February 2014. Mardi Gras, as a celebration of life before the more-somber occasion of Ash Wednesday, nearly always involves the use of masks and costumes by its participants, and the most popular celebratory colors are purple, green, and gold. In New Orleans, for example, these often take the shape of fairies, animals, people from myths, or various Medieval costumes [26] as well as clowns and Indians ( Native Americans). [27] The parades of the largest krewes (colloquially known as "super krewes") came later, during the 1960's/70's, and traditionally occur immediately prior to and on Shrove Tuesday, including those of Endymion (Saturday, which also culminates with a concert event at Caesars Superdome), Bacchus (Sunday), and Zulu and Rex (Tuesday). In Italy Mardi Gras is called Martedì Grasso (Fat Tuesday). It is the main day of Carnival along with the Thursday before, called Giovedí Grasso (Fat Thursday), which ratifies the start of the celebrations. The most famous Carnivals in northern Italy are in Venice, Viareggio and Ivrea, while in the southern part of Italy the Sardinian Sartiglia and the intriguing apotropaic masks, especially the mamuthones, issohadores, s'urtzu (and so on), are more popular, belonging to a very ancient tradition. Ivrea has the characteristic " Battle of Oranges" that finds its roots in medieval times. The Italian version of the festival is spelled Carnevale. [13] Sweden

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Catholic Encyclopedia: Shrovetide". Archived from the original on 18 October 2014 . Retrieved 2 October 2014.

According to Laurie Wilkie, an archaeologist at the University of California at Berkeley, Mardi Gras “Carnival” celebrations started before Christianity as a pagan fertility festival. Some scholars believe it may have been linked to the ancient Roman pagan feast, Saturnalia, which honored the god of agriculture, Saturn. Other research suggests that there is no connection and the customs may come from much older Indo-European spring lore—perhaps the folklore of the Germanic and Slavic races rather than from Greece orRome.

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a b c "Mardi Gras Terminology". Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau. Archived from the original on 9 December 2007 . Retrieved 18 November 2007.