Trivia Today - Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Greetings Infomaniacs,

Yesterday was Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday." This past weekend, I had a Paczki for the first time in my life. I don't know how I lasted this long without having one, especially since all of the grocery stores and bakeries display them in all of their glory in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday.

My boyfriend is Polish, and feels that Fat Tuesday cannot be celebrated without this deep fried, powdered sugar goodness, so he brought me over a box full of them this weekend. I enjoyed them heartily, but I am paying for it now with quite a bad stomach ache! Eating too many of these pastries can definitely put the "fat" in Fat Tuesday!

Enjoy!
Melissa

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WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

HINT: (1954-), American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist.


RANDOM TIDBITS
The name Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, a day of feasting before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. This day is also known as Shrove Tuesday.

The official colors of Mardi Gras have meanings. Purple is for justice, gold is for power and green is for faith. These were chosen by the Grand Duke of Russia in 1857.

Krewes, which are parade groups, started as private social clubs. The oldest of these is Comus which was founded in 1857.

Beads didn't start to emerge in the Mardi Gras parades until the late 1800s, when some of the Krewes who organized the parades began handing out cheap glass bead necklaces. Tourists loved them, and the beads became part of the tradition.

The tradition of handing out items to the audience dates back to Renaissance Europe. In New Orleans, the first person to do that was a Krewe member dressed as Santa Claus in the 1880s.

Another Mardi Gras tradition, the king cake, was described as far back as the 1600s. At one point a pea or a bean, and nowadays a trinket (or often a plastic baby Jesus) is buried in a rich cake for a lucky person to find. The king cake takes its name from the three Magi who are said to have visited Jesus after his birth.


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I have a name that's not mine,
and no one cares about me in their prime.
People cry at my sight,
and lie by me all day and night.

What am I?

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WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

ANSWER: Oprah Winfrey.

***
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