Mardi Gras and Carnival in Majunga

Mardi Gras and Carnival in Majunga

At Majunga, as in the world, Christians are celebrating today's 25 February "Fat Tuesday". Mardi Gras and Carnival in Majunga : Carnivals and disguises take place in the street and good meals are at the tables.

More than 41% Malagasy population are Christians but very few know the origin of Mardi Gras.

"Fat Tuesday" ?

Very few people know why this party took this rather incongruous name. However, it only takes a few notions of Latin to begin to reveal its meaning. “Carnival” comes from Latin “carnis levare“, expression that means “Remove, remove the meat”.

And if that expression has remained, transformed with the centuries, it refers to a centuries-old tradition : that of having a good meal before the privations of Lent. Also, Christianity instituted this period of fasting and abstinence.

Traditionally, at Mardi Gras, the children dressed up to pick up from their neighbours all the essential ingredients for making cakes, pancakes and bugnes. Recipes that are still very successful today…

To the menu, Restaurant Gourmand Coco Lodge Majunga prepares a surprise, on the occasion of this Mardi Gras.

Indeed, Coco Lodge Majunga, it's also a Gourmet restaurant in addition to being a Hotel★★★, a four-wheel-drive renter with driver guide and Event organizer (conferences, seminars, workshops, lunches/dinners with themes, wedding, anniversary, boy-girl stag, …).

Find out more about Mardi Gras

This is an important date. It varies from year to year because it is fixed in relation to the date of Easter which is itself a mobile holiday. This date may be in February or early March. But it falls, of course, always on a Tuesday and before Easter 47 days. Mardi Gras is a celebration linked to Lent and carnival, whose origins are religious but also pagan, as is the case with most popular festivals.

Pagan origins

In Roman Antiquity, the calendar began in March, to coincide the beginning of the year with the renewal of nature. Thus, great celebrations marked this period of the Calendars of March. Subsequently, Christianized people continued to celebrate the end of winter with this Mardi Gras festival.

Christian origins

Mardi Gras opens the Easter period which is an essential moment in the Christian calendar, during which cheerfulness and sadness alternate, until easter itself, day of joy and hope.

To prepare Easter and purify yourself, Christians practice Lent, period of fasting and austerity that lasts 40 days in remembrance of Jesus' retreat in the desert. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and the day of abundance and joy that precedes it, it's Mardi Gras. We call this day “fat” referring to foods considered rich : butter, Eggs, Meat… A Mardi Gras, so we allow excesses, both in food consumption and in the appearance of clothing.

From pancakes to Mardi Gras

A Mardi Gras, custom is to eat pancakes. It is said that this tradition stems from the need to deplete the reserves of eggs and butter that will not be used during Lent. Other similar pastries, like donuts, Wonders, waffles, can also be prepared for Mardi Gras. The common point of all these delights is the use of a paste that is browned or fried.

Then come and eat pancakes and donuts at Coco Lodge.

Always available, the whole team of the Hotel ★★★ Coco Lodge will be happy to serve you. Our goal is to offer you an unforgettable stay in the city of Majunga.

Coco Lodge TO also organises tours of Majunga and its surroundings and many more. Discover the Anjohibe Caves, Ankarafantsika National Park, Sacred Lake, Red Circus, the beaches, the Antrema reserve, the lighthouse of Katsepy, Papamena, The Poseidon, Mahavavy Kinkony Complex, Namoroka tsingys, ….

By #CocoLodgeMajunga