"Fat Tuesday" Leads to "Ash Wednesday" and the Beginning of Lent

Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday

The roots of the "Fat" or "Shrove" Tuesday celebration lie in the Christian calendar as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. The reference to "fat" comes from the Mardi Gras tradition in Louisiana of slaughtering and feasting upon a fatted calf on the last day of Carnival.