Activities & Days Out / 2 February, 2020 / Nanny Anita

Make Your Own Mardi Gras Masks

In England we obviously don’t celebrate the day before Lent in the same way as other countries do. Of course we eat yummy pancakes, but Mardi Gras or Carnival traditions are still steeped in the same traditions as our pancake eating ones.

Lent is the period of fasting before Easter, and although many people give up something for Lent, traditionally Christians would have given up meat, eggs, milk and cheese! Which is why we eat pancakes and other countries call it Fat Tuesday; basically they had to eat everything that they weren’t allowed during the period of Lent.  Over the years this day turned into a day (or weeks) of merriment, a last hurrah if you will. It’s name Carnival comes from the Latin word Carnelevarium which means removal of meat. One of the main traditions that appeared was to wear masks. These masks allowed wearers to escape the social class constraints imposed on them so that everyone could enjoy the revelry.

In honour of Mardi Gras we decided to make our own masks.

Make sure you follow my craft board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later. 

You will need:

• Foam paper
• Elastic
• Scissors
• Glue
• Things to decorate like feathers, sequins, sticky letters, glitter etc

Cut out your masks and then decorate.

When they are all dried add some elastic so that you can wear your Mardi Gras masks.

Pin for later: