Opinions

In an earlier life, I was a human sacrifice tossed to my death off a precipice.
Nothing else explains the irrational fear I have of heights. While I can stand on a thick rug without getting dizzy, vertigo sets in about half way up a 6-foot ladder. Seriously, the room starts spinning, my heart and lungs race and my legs wobble.

In my last column, I regaled with true, well mostly true, stories of trips to Mexico involving gluttony, gastronomical feats, miscommunications and strange encounters with half-naked women.
And there’s more.

When, as a young teenager, I noticed my birthday was on the same DATE every year, but not on the same DAY of the week, I began to wonder about the date of Easter. Easter was always on a Sunday, I knew, but sometimes it occurred before my birthday, and sometimes after. Sometimes Easter was in the month of March, sometimes not until fairly late in April. I couldn’t find any other holiday that couldn’t seem to make up its mind as to which month it belonged in. How were we supposed to plan for it when there seemed so little consistency about when it would arrive?

Cupid, as we visualize him, is a combination of gods from Roman and Greek mythologies. Before the Romans came in contact with the Greek culture, the Roman gods were thought of as powers and forces of nature rather than as having human form. It wasn’t until after the Romans conquered Greece in the third century before Christ was born that writers such as Virgil and Ovid began combining the Greek deities with the Roman ones, creating a hybrid mythology which survives to this day through writings, architecture and art.

The term “Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday” and refers to the day before the beginning of Lent when Christians used up any rich foods before giving them up during the Lenten period, along with parties and other self-indulgences. The day was the last opportunity for merrymaking, revelry and indulgence in food and drink for the 40 days leading up to Easter.