Parallels Between Fat Tuesday And Black Friday

I was just noticing that one could find certain parallels between black Friday and Fat Tuesday. I’m of course referring to the black Friday that comes after Thanksgiving and kicks off the biggest shopping day of the year, though the name relationship to Good Friday (also Black Friday) of Easter fame should not be ignored.

I mean, Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) is the debauchery that immediately proceeds the Lenten (atonement) season. Though perhaps not by design, the idea is that you get in your last bit of naughtiness and excess before you have to start being sorry for it all.

Looking at things that way, Thanksgiving is the last chance to be thankful for the good things you have shortly before kicking off the greed of black Friday.

Yeah, I know that the supposition is that you are Christmas shopping on black Friday and thus the ‘savings’ are related to generosity as opposed to greed, but let’s be honest. It’s a symbolic greed holiday.

As such, isn’t there a similarity? Granted, the ‘good’ and ‘bad are kind of reversed between Thanksgiving/black Friday and Fat Tuesday/Lent…but I think the relationship still kind of holds. I might be reaching a bit, but still.