Mother Mary

I took this right after the Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade in downtown Baton Rouge. For the non-Catholics out there, Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is the last day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent, of course, is the 40 day period before Easter, during which Catholics traditionally give up alcohol, chocolate, sodas, or other luxuries to put us in a repentent mind set.

I spotted the statue, a common sight in front of Louisiana homes, as I was walking back to my car after the parade. It seemed a fitting symbol of the end of my day of partying.

I am always struck by the contrast between the wild partying of the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras followed immediately by a lengthy period of quiet and religious contemplation. In New Orleans, the capital of Mardi Gras, the partying ends quite literally at the stroke of midnight at the end of Tuesday.