Catholic Activity: Slovak Mardi Gras

DIRECTIONS

Last, but by far not the least, are the beautiful and colorful customs and practices of the Slovaks during the Easter season. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday are known as Fasiangy. They are the days of merriment prior to a long period of abstinence from pleasure and food. On Monday night, during Fasiangy, there is a masquerade ball, a sort of "Slovak Mardi Gras." It is said by some, that the significance of this is dispelling Winter's gloom, and welcoming oncoming Spring. If the ice has already disappeared, people sow seeds as early as the middle of March.

Activity Source: Your Home, A Church in Miniature by Compiled by The Family Life Bureau in the early 1950s, The Neumann Press, Long Prairie, Minnesota, 1994