Here’s why Fat Tuesday is relatively subdued in Utah

Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios

It’s Mardi Gras! Laissez les bon temps rouler! (Let the good times roll!)

What’s happening: Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday, is a big holiday in much of Christianity, from Louisiana’s bead-draped parades, to the famed Carnival celebrations of Rio de Janeiro and Venice, to paczki chow-downs in eastern Europe and the Rust Belt.

Details: Fat Tuesday is the day before Lent — the 40-day lead-up to Easter, when many Christians reflect on sacrifice and give up something they enjoy to mark the somber season before Good Friday.

Flashback: But not all churches observe Lent or Fat Tuesday, which goes back to the Reformation in England, explained Matthew Bowman, a history and religion professor who chairs the Mormon studies program at Claremont Graduate University in California.

Context: Mormonism is rooted in the Puritan tradition of America’s Northeast — home to church founder Joseph Smith, Bowman noted.

What they’re saying: “American culture generally is really influenced by Puritanism, and Americans tend to think ‘respectable’ religion … is somber and plain and simple,” Bowman said. “I think the LDS Church is very steeped in that way of thinking about middle-class respectability in its Puritan heritage.”

Why it matters: Some religious celebrations that are huge in other parts of the world — Advent, Palm Sunday, Epiphany — are less known to many Utahns.

Yes, but: We’ve come a long way since Erin’s fruitless quest for Fat Tuesday baked goods nearly a decade ago.

The bottom line: You don’t have to be the only one in town letting the good times roll!