The more we examine the liturgical calendar parallel to Yahweh’s Biblical calendar, the more apparent it is that the liturgical calendar is an imitation. Furthermore, many liturgical and minor celebrations within the liturgical year are undergirded in paganism.
Since Purim 2025 and Mardi Gras are happening within 10 days of each other, we should examine the parallels between Purim and Mardi Gras.
What is Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras, also known as “Fat Tuesday,” is celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent on the liturgical calendar. Lent is supposed to be a time of fasting, prayer, and seeking to follow in Yeshua’s footsteps.
Though Mardi Gras is supposed to be a one-day celebration, in some places, it has transformed into a weeklong unbridled indulgence. Hence, in some places, Mardi Gras not only overshadows Lent but also infringes upon it.
Mardi Gras has its origins in the pagan rituals of celebrating spring and fertility gods. Its origins can also be traced back to Saturnalia and Lupercalia, observed by the Romans and Celts. These celebrations often involved all things in excess: partying, eating, drinking, and honoring springtime and fertility deities, and consequently, participants engaged in sexual promiscuities.
When is Mardi Gras 2025
Mardi Gras 2025 was on Tuesday, March 4.
Is Mardi Gras A Christian Holiday
Yes. Mardi Gras is celebrated as a Christian holiday even though its origins and practice are pagan. History.com also confirms “Mardi Gras as a Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites.”1 History.com also noted that Mardi Gras is celebrated in many countries around the world—”mainly those with large Roman Catholic populations—on the day before the religious season of Lent begins.”2
As Christianity spread through Europe, many of the pagan customs were absorbed into Christian practices. For example, as Christianity spread, Mardi Gras spread from Rome to other European countries, including France, Germany, Spain, and England, and later to the Americas and the Caribbean.
The term “Mardi Gras” began to be associated with the last day of feasting before the period of fasting and sacrifice during Lent.3 When Christianity arrived in Rome, according to History.com, “religious leaders decided to incorporate the popular local pagan traditions into the new faith, an easier task than abolishing them altogether.” Consequently, the practice of unbridled indulgencies or “excess and debauchery of the Mardi Gras season” became celebrated and justified by the Church because participants would be spending the next 40 days (Lent) from Ash Wednesday to “Easter Sunday” fasting and doing penance.
This transition was further solidified in the Middle Ages when Carnival developed as a festive season leading up to Lent, complete with elaborate festivities, parades, and communal feasts.4 In countries such as France, Italy, and Spain, the tradition took on local flavors, leading to a variety of customs associated with this celebration.
Mardi Gras In the United States
In the United States, Mardi Gras is most famously celebrated in New Orleans, Louisiana, where it has evolved into a vibrant festival characterized by parades, music, dancing, and colorful costumes. This celebration was heavily influenced by the French Catholic settlers in the 18th century, who brought their customs to the region.5
The first recorded New Orleans Mardi Gras took place in the early 1830s, but the city’s celebration gained national attention in the 20th century and is now a significant cultural event attracting millions of visitors each year.6
When is Purim 2025
Purim 2025 begins at sundown on Thursday, March 13, 2025 and ends at sundown of Friday, March 14, 2025. Click here for more about Purim, Dates, Facts, and Celebration Ideas
What is Purim
Purim is a Biblical holiday and is often referred to as a purely Jewish holiday. However, Purim is not just a celebration for Jews. Purim, as found in the Book of Esther, celebrates the Jewish people’s deliverance from the wicked Haman during Queen Esther of Persia’s reign. The word “Purim” is the Persian word for “lots.” In the Book of Esther 3:7–9, the wicked Haman cast lots to decide when to kill the Jews.
Haman was an official in the Persian Empire who plotted to annihilate the Jews. This story is recounted in the Book of Esther in the Bible, where Esther, a Jewish queen, and her cousin Mordecai bravely thwart Haman’s plans with the help of God (Esther 3-9). While God is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, we know that it is God who helped them. Mordecai was a devout Jew, and he raised Esther in like manner. Hence, Mordacai fasted and prayed. Esther, being pious, sent a message to Mordecai that he and all the Jews in the city were to fast and pray as she prepared to go before the king, and act that could have led to her death.
When is Purim Celebrated
Purim is celebrated on the 14th and 15th of the Hebrew month of Adar. Purim falls in late winter or early spring, typically in February or March. The essence of Purim is encapsulated in the themes of survival, resilience, and the triumph of good over evil.
How is Purim Celebrated
Several distinctive traditions and customs mark the Purim holiday. One of the most prominent practices is reading the Megillah, or the Scroll of Esther. This public reading, often conducted in synagogues and some churches, is a central ritual where participants respond to Haman’s name with boos, rattles, and other noises, symbolically erasing his name.7
Another important aspect of Purim is the festive meal, known as the “Seudat Purim.” Families and friends celebrate with a lavish feast that includes various foods, often featuring pastries such as “hamantaschen,” which are triangular-shaped cookies filled with poppy seeds, fruit preserves, or chocolate (Zipperstein, 1995). The holiday is also characterized by giving gifts, called “mishloach manot,” which are food baskets sent to friends and family, fostering community ties and spreading joy (Cohen, 2013).
In many communities, Purim is marked by joyous celebrations, including masquerades and costume parties. These festivities reflect the themes of hidden identities and revelry found in the story of Esther (Klein, 2020). These festivities promote a sense of joy and hilarity, creating a palpable atmosphere of happiness and community joy.
It is common to dress in funny and joyful costumes; hence, you will see some in clown or court gesture costumes. Funny costumes reminded us that this is a celebration of joy and gladness because we were marked for death by evil Haman, but God delivered us. The very instrument that Haman erected to kill Mordecai was used to kill Haman.
When Haman thought the king was planning to honor him, he told the king all the ways in which a man should be honored. Again, God turned it around, and it was Mordecai who received the honor. Haman had the responsibility of making sure Mordecai was honored in the manner Haman had described. Hence, the addition of humorous costumes makes a mockery of Haman and the evil that sets itself up against the children of Yahweh.
Purim Comes Before Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
Interestingly, Purim is celebrated shortly before Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (CHag HaMatzot, CHag HaMotzi). Passover commemorates the deliverance of the children of Israel from God’s judgment upon Egypt when they applied the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts and lintels.
When John the Immerser (John the Bptist) saw Yeshua (Jesus) coming, he declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29, ESV. Follwoing the celebration of Purim, which represents the joyful celebration of the power of Yahweh to save His people, we begin preparing for His perfect act of salvation to save the entire world for all would believe. Through faith, the blood of the Lamb, Yeshua (Jesus), is applied to us. It is not ashes smeared across our foreheads that save; it is the blood of the Lamb of God.
It is through Yeshua’s blood being applied to us by faith that we are saved from the judgment of Yahweh.
When is Passover (Pesach) 2025
Passover 2025 begins at sundown on Saturday, April 12, 2025 and ends at sundown on Sunday, April 13, 2025.
When is the Feast of Unleavened Bread 2025
The feast of Unleavened Bread (CHag HaMatzot, CHag HaMotzi) begins immediately following Passover (Pesach). Every believer is commanded to get rid of all leaven from their homes. Leaven represents sin and is supposed to remind us that just as we cast out all the leaven from our homes, Yeshua comes to cast out sin from our hearts.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread (CHag HaMatzot, CHag HaMotzi) is a time of refelection, confession, repentance and surrender to Yahweh in the name of Yeshua, that He may cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is also a time of giving thanks that Yahweh, in His goodness, gave us Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah), who can do what we cannot do- get rid of our sins. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (CHag HaMatzot, CHag HaMotzi) 2025 begins at sundown on Sunday, April 13, 2025 and ends at sundown on Saturday, April 19, 2025.
Mardi Gras is a Cheap Immitation and Cheap Substitute for Purim
Interestingly, although Purim and Mardi Gras are celebrated similarly, such as with feasting and dressing up in costumes, there are significant differences. Below is an abridged list of the strong differences between Purim and Mardi Gras
- Mardi Gras does not engage in any Biblical Practices, while Purim does
- Mardi Gras does not include any reading of the Bible, while Purim does
- While Mardi Gras and Purim are celebrated with feasting, joy, and costumes, unbridled indulgences are neither justified nor celebrated in the Biblical account of Purim.
- Purim does not justify intentional disobedience to God’s commands and standard of morality.
- Purim includes giving to charity and food gifts to neighbours, while Mardi Gras is self-serving.
Beyond the list above, we must include the fact that both Mardi Gras and Purim precede a holy time centered around the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus). However, Purim reminds us that it is God who provides us deliverance from evil and in many ways begins to prepare our hearts and minds for the Passover (Pesach). On the other hand, Mardi Gras champions evil and, in some places, overshadows and infringes upon “Lent.” Purim does not overshadow nor does Purim infringe upon Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
“Mardi Gras Culture in Bible Belt America”
In his article “Mardi Gras Culture in Bible Belt America,” Russell Moore critiques the cycle of behavior in some Baptist churches. Young adults often drift away from church life during their college years, only to return later once they settle down and start families. Moore argues that this tendency is not only seen as normal but has become an expectation. The expectation, he argues, is that young adults should fulfil their personal desires before embracing commitment.
Additionally, Moore emphasizes that this view of Christianity fails to align with true repentance and grace, suggesting that merely replacing one appetite with another does not lead to genuine spiritual growth. Instead, he likens this approach to a hollow experience akin to the aftermath of a Mardi Gras. “The end result of this kind of ‘Christianity’ is as bleak as the morning after Mardi Gras. Settling down isn’t the same as repentance. Giving up one appetite for another isn’t the same as grace.”8
Moore further argues, “In both our culturally captive Catholic culture and in our culturally captive Baptist culture, the appetites were seen, far too often, as gods to be appeased, rather than flesh to be crucified.”9
Summary
The comparison between the liturgical calendar and Yahweh’s Biblical calendar reveals that many church celebrations, including Mardi Gras, have deep historical roots that intertwine with pagan traditions. We can see why it is called “Fat Tuesday ” because Mardi Gras is characterised by gluttony in every way. It marks the final day of indulgence before Lent, negating Paul’s word that we do not keep on sinning so that grace may abound, Romans 6:1.
Although it is recognized as a Christian holiday, the origins of Mardi Gras emphasize excess and revelry, showcasing how pagan customs were absorbed into Christian practices and have become acceptable. Conversely, Purim is a Biblical celebration of faith in the face of adversity and the triumph of God’s people over evil, as narrated in the Book of Esther. This holiday commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman’s plot to annihilate them, emphasizing themes of survival and divine intervention.
While Purim is often perceived exclusively as a Jewish festival, its significance extends beyond cultural boundaries, as it is the promise of God to all who believe in Yeshua. Both celebrations, occurring within ten days of each other in March 2025, serve as a powerful reminder that worldly celebrations will always lead us away from Yahweh and His commands, while Biblical celebrations bring us together as one body and serve to strengthen our individual and collective faith in Yahweh’s power to save us.
Works Cited
Green, John. “The History of Mardi Gras.” *New Orleans’ Mardi Gras*, 2020, http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/history.
Hennessey, Michael. “The Evolution of Mardi Gras: From Pagan Roots to Christian Celebration.” *Journal of Cultural Traditions*, vol. 12, no. 2, 2019, pp. 45-59.
Klein, James. *Carnival and Cultural Identity in New Orleans*. University Press, 2021.
Sullivan, Laura. “A Brief History of Mardi Gras.” *Cultural Heritage Review*, vol. 10, no. 4, 2022, pp. 20-34.
Vanderbilt, Jessica. “Mardi Gras: What it Means and Why We Celebrate.” *Festivals of the World*, 2021, http://www.festivalsoftheworld.com/mardigras.
Cohen, Henny B. *Purim: The Upcoming Jewish Holidays*. Jerusalem Press, 2013.
Klein, Steven. *Festivals of the Jewish Year*. New York: Jewish Publication Society, 2020.
Zipperstein, Steven J. *The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary*. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
The Holy Scriptures: The New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982. Esther 3-9.
- History.com, https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mardi-gras ↩︎
- History.com, https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mardi-gras ↩︎
- Wagner ↩︎
- Klein ↩︎
- Green ↩︎
- Sullivan ↩︎
- Talmud, Megillah 23b ↩︎
- https://www.russellmoore.com/2011/03/07/mardi-gras-culture-in-bible-belt-america/#:~:text=As%20the%20years%20have%20gone,the%20calendar%20of%20the%20lifespan ↩︎
- https://www.russellmoore.com/2011/03/07/mardi-gras-culture-in-bible-belt-america/#:~:text=As%20the%20years%20have%20gone,the%20calendar%20of%20the%20lifespan ↩︎
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