February 21: International Mother Language Day, Mardi Gras, Paczki Day

~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
February 21

★~ Today’s Quote:  If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart ~ Nelson Mandela

★~ International Mother Language Day (INLD):

International Mother Language Day promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, and has been in existence since 2000. February 21 represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh.

Celebrate INLD by taking an interest in the different languages spoken around you today; listen for what other languages you hear on the street/bus/TV/radio, and try to keep in mind that while English might be our mother tongue, Malay might be the mother tongue of the person sitting next to you.

★~ Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday): 

Celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, Fat Tuesday is a tradition of blowing off steam before the 40 penitent days of Lent. People do their best to make up for the upcoming days of restraint with jam-packed days of plenty.

Historians believe that Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday,” has its origins in the pre-Christian celebration known as Lupercalia. When Christianity swept Rome, the church incorporated the oft-debauched festival into its observances as a way of attracting followers.

French-Canadian explorer, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville instigated the first American Mardi Gras on March 3, 1699, after landing close to New Orleans on a spot he named “Pointe due Mardi Gras.”

In countries all across the world, people will celebrate Fat Tuesday with extravagant festivals, parades, and feasts. They will don costumes, dance in the streets, and binge on decadent desserts. The two most famous Mardi Gras celebrations take place in Venice, Italy, and New Orleans, Louisiana. At the Carnevale di Venezia, the most important event is the contest for the best mask, which is judged by a panel of international fashion designers. In New Orleans, the festivities revolve around the Mardi Gras parades, which are organized by secret societies known as “krewes.” The members of these societies design the elaborate floats and ride them during the event, tossing beads to the crowd below.

The best way to celebrate Mardi Gras is to eat, drink, and be merry in excess. Or, of course, you can just watch the Big Easy while eating pancakes and/or paczkis.

★~ Paczki Day:

While most Americans know today as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, those of Polish descent call it Paczki Day (pronounced POONCH-key). The paczki custom traces as far back as the 1600s, when Polish people ate paczki made out of the extra lard and meats that they were giving up for Lent

Paczki are a pair of dough rounds that are tightly pressed together before being dropped into hot oil. A sweet filling is sandwiched between the dough rounds. Traditional filling flavors include prune, poppy seed, and rose petal jam as well as a creamy egg liqueur called advocaat. Straight out of the fryer, paczki are tossed into a paper bag of granulated sugar, or after cooling, sprinkled with powdered sugar or drizzled with a lemony glaze.

Paczki are sold at most bakeries today, so stop by and pick up a couple; or if you are lucky like me, maybe your Polish neighbor will bring you some. Smacznego!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1878 - The first telephone directories issued in the U.S. were distributed to residents of New Haven, CT. George Williard Coy and a group of investors in the New Haven District Telephone Company created the ‘books’. It was easy to “Let Your Fingers Do the Walking” at that time as only 50 subscribers’ names were listed on a a single sheet of paper.

♥~ 1925 - The first issue of The New Yorker was published.

♥~ 1947 – Edwin Land demonstrated a nifty new gadget to the Optical Society of America in New York City. It was the first camera to take, develop and print a picture on photo paper (in black and white back then) all in about a minute. He called his invention the Polaroid Land Camera. It became an ‘instant’ success.

♥~ 1981 - REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity was the #1 U.S. album spending a total of fifteen weeks at number one.

♥~ 1983 -  Donald Davis set a world record at the University of Hawaii by running a mile backwards in 6 minutes 7.1 seconds.

♥~ 1995 - Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Canada.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1927 - Erma Bombeck (Fiste) humorist, columnist, writer: The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank; died Apr 22, 1996

♥~ 1946 - Tyne (Ellen) Daly Tony Award: Gypsy [1990] and Emmy Award-winning actress: Cagney and Lacey

♥~ 1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter Grammy Award-winning singer:

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple (symbolic of justice), green (symbolic of faith) and gold (symbolic of power) The Mardi Gras  colors are the official colors of both Tulane University and the University of Louisiana.

♥~ In England, pancakes are the traditional food of their version of Fat Tuesday, called “Shrove Tuesday.” Pancake ingredients use eggs and fat, two food items that were prohibited for consumption during the Lent period. The word “shrove” is an archaic English term, meaning “confessed,” as priestly confession rites are observed ahead of Lent.c

♥~ Throw me something mister:  The most common throws are strings of plastic colorful beads, doubloons (aluminum or wooden dollar-sized coins, decorated plastic throw cups, and small inexpensive toys and have been tossed from  floats since as least 1910 -

♥~ Until the middle of the 1960’s, , most Mardi Gras beads were imported from Eastern Europe and made of glass., but they became too expensive to throw, in liberal quantities, by float riders. So along came plastic beads.

♥~ Coconuts are considered the most prized throws by many Mardi Gras aficionados. But due to liability issues, they are handed out, these days, rather than tossed.

♥~ Mardi Gras ends at midnight. Most people stop the celebration abruptly at midnight. When Ash Wednesday arrives, the party season ends, and lent begins.

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Do you speak a second language? I, unfortunately, do not.  I’m also not a fan of New Orleans (except for the fried, powered sugar Beignets). I do enjoy my once a year Paczki, so I guess that’s something.

If you have a Morno moment leave a comment because Odd Loves Company!

Que tengan buen día, príjemný deň prajem, 祝你一天过得愉快, hauskaa päivänjatkoa and bonne journée!  *google translator

♥