Mardi Gras, as we know it today, is the descendent of old fertility rites celebrating the coming of spring and the rebirth of vegetation. Gradually these pagan ceremonies were incorporated into orthodox Christianity, and the pre-Lenten celebration, which begins with the Feast of Epiphany and ends on Ash Wednesday, came generally to be known as Carnival. Derived from the old Italian carnelevare, which means taking meat away, Carnival became a kind of festival, or final fling, before a period of fasting. In France, and later in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, the celebration was known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. In England, it was called Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday, because the meat-fats were used to make pancakes.

Although Mardi Gras in America is generally associated with New Orleans, where half a million people or more gather to celebrate, Carnival actually began in Mobile in...