Fat Tuesday = Fudgy Chocolate Brownies!

As Fat Tuesday approaches, (March 8th) the mere thought of giving up your favorite treats during Lent can make one cringe! After all, six weeks is a long time to fast! If you plan to celebrate Fat Tuesday, why not make Gifts with Chocolate part of your sinful indulgence! If you don’t know much about Fat Tuesday, and need a reason to indulge, here is some history behind this big celebration!

mask In French, "Mardi Gras" literally means "Fat Tuesday," named because it falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, the last day before Lent which is a 40-day season of prayer and fasting (observed by Christians) which ends Easter Sunday. The history of a Mardi Gras celebration existed years before Europeans came to the New World. In the Second Century, Ancient Romans observed Lupercalia, a circus-type festival which was similar to the present day Mardi Gras. This festival honored Roman deities which included feasting, and participants would don masks, and cloth themselves in the likeness of specters. The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple (symbolic of justice), green (symbolic of faith) and gold (symbolic of power). Interestingly, the colors of Mardi Gras influenced the choice of school colors for the Lousiana arch-rival colleges, LSU and Tulane. Whe LSU was deciding on its colors, the stores in New Orleans stocked-up on fabrics of purple, green and gold for the upcoming Mardi Gras season. LSU, opting for purple and gold, bought a large quantity of the available cloth. Tulane purchased much of the only remaining color...green (Tulane's colors are green and white).

I hope the history of Fat Tuesday & Mardi Gras has inspired you to treat yourself or loved ones to some Gourmet Brownies! Don’t forget, you can Buy Brownies Online at brownies.com!