Mardi Gras supposedly is the last celebration before the beginning of Lent. It's literally just a day to go crazy before the seriousness kicks in. Nowadays when people say things like, "Oh, I'm giving up chocolate for Lent," it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but back in the day people didn't fuck around. You had to fast like crazy. You had to attend services every day. You couldn't engage in any form of entertainment. Mardi Gras was the method to cram all that fun in that you're going to miss in the next forty days. I was talking with my German teacher, and he said Mardi Gras, or Fasching or Karneval as it's called in Germany (you've undoubtedly heard of the latter in its South American form) starts at 11/11 at 11:11. O...kay. I think you've forgotten the point. This is the party before the low period. Your party is longer than Lent itself. By a long shot. Lent about 1.3 months. Your Karneval is about 3 months. Do you honestly think Lent is so bad that you need about triple the amount of comfort time to deal with the trauma?